Once more Newcastle United left the Parc des Princes with heartache. Paris, for those wearing black and white, has yet to prove itself as the city of love.
Now, in a season that is physically pushing them to breaking point, there will be another two games against Monaco or Qarabag for a place in the round of 16. Two years ago, Newcastle had suffered here in the 98th minute when Kylian Mbappé equalised with a controversial penalty. This time their bravery was almost rewarded with a dramatic winning goal from Harvey Barnes, when two minutes of normal time remained and the scores were tied.
Barnes, a 68th-minute substitute, arrived in the six-yard box to accept the chance but his shot struck the frame of the goal. The flag was up but VAR would have intervened because Barnes was onside. And right then, the 2,000 supporters from Tyneside, tucked in a corner of the stadium on the other side of the goal, were celebrating, and Jason Tindall, the Newcastle assistant head coach, tumbled in the technical area as he grabbed his head in disbelief.
Barnes blazes his effort wide from within the six-yard box
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“Harvey has nothing to apologise for,” Eddie Howe, the Newcastle head coach, said. “It’s one of those things. He was unlucky with the spin of the ball.”
There were other chances late on to seal a victory that would have squeezed Manchester City out of the top eight, but they were spurned by Barnes, Anthony Gordon and Jacob Ramsey. Instead, the two clubs backed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund failed to finish in the top ten.
“We keep pushing on,” Howe added. “We wanted to win tonight. We didn’t want the extra games but we will take it and go down that route in the best possible way.”
That was a reference to the steel his side had shown to come back from a dreadful start, conceding a penalty after 45 seconds and falling behind on eight minutes when Vitinha struck. “There is a huge amount we need to take from this game into our future games,” Howe said. “Really good resilience, character and quality, and the ability to come back from a difficult situation. We had to deal with a lot, not just the opposition, who are an outstanding team. The penalty decision against us was really harsh. We felt we should have had a penalty ourselves.”
That incident came in the 40th minute, when the Newcastle bench felt Marquinhos had handled in the area. Newcastle’s equalising goal came just before half-time from their first effort on target.
Sandro Tonali floated a free kick from dead centre, just inside the Paris Saint-Germain half, and Marquinhos, the home captain, rushed too far forward in an effort to meet it. In his haste, instead of clearing the ball he flicked it backwards, towards his own goal.
Pope, right, saved PSG’s early penalty following a handball by Miley…
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…but the goalkeeper could not stop Vitinha from opening the scoring on eight minutes
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That allowed Dan Burn, who was backpedalling on the edge of the PSG six-yard box, to flick a header inside and Willock met it to cleverly steer a header beyond Matvei Safonov, who did not get near the ball as he dived to his left.
The complexion of the match changed right then but it had started disastrously. Within 45 seconds, Lewis Miley, used as a right wingback, had conceded a penalty. Bradley Barcola raced past the Geordie, and the ball went from Sven Botman’s foot on to Barcola’s arm, which was tucked into his body, on to the outstretched, flapping right hand of Miley.
The referee, Slavko Vincic, was sent to the monitor for a review and quickly pointed to the spot. Ousmane Dembélé stepped forward to take the kick but was denied by a brilliant save from Nick Pope, diving at full stretch to his left.
Willock was the unlikely scorer of Newcastle’s equaliser just before the interval with his first goal since February
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The midfielder beat Safonov again in the second half but his effort was ruled out for offside
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Miley looked relieved, but by the eighth minute PSG were ahead anyway. Newcastle were all over the place when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia played the ball inside to Vitinha, and the former Wolverhampton Wanderers man dummied then hit a right-footed shot from 20 yards into the corner. There were further chances for Barcola and Kvaratskhelia before the Georgia winger hobbled off injured.
In that moment, PSG’s attack was blunted, although Désiré Doué and Willian Pacho spurned chances to stretch the lead. Newcastle had fought back into the game by the end of the half, then came their equaliser, and in the second half, they threatened to win the game and reach the knockout stage outright for the first time in the club’s history.
Safonov saved from Ramsey after good work by Nick Woltemade and Willock thought he had scored after charging through, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Gordon, brought on with Barnes, saw a curling 25-yard shot saved.
Then when Gordon and Barnes broke in the 74th minute, with PSG stretched, the ball was moved to Ramsey on the Newcastle right and his shot was blocked by Marquinhos. Vitinha bent another shot wide, one of 25 efforts from Luis Enrique’s side. Newcastle managed ten. But Newcastle carried a threat on the counterattack, right to the end of the game. They thought they had won it at the death.
“We deserved to win, not a big win, but we deserved to win,” Luis Enrique, the PSG head coach, said. He too must now fight through the play-offs in his quest to retain the crown his side won in such style last season.
Paris Saint-Germain (4-2-3-1): M Safonov — A Hakimi, Marquinhos, W Pacho, Nuno Mendes — W Zaire-Emery (S Mayulu 87min), Vitinha, J Neves (I Mbaye 87) — K Kvaratskhelia (D Doué 22), O Dembélé, B Barcola (G Ramos 70).
Newcastle United (5-4-1): N Pope — L Miley, M Thiaw, S Botman, D Burn, L Hall — A Elanga (A Gordon 67), S Tonali, J Ramsey, J Willock (H Barnes 68) — N Woltemade (Y Wissa 79). Booked Elanga.
Referee S Vincic (Slovenia).
Attendance 47,637.