Mehrdad Ghodoussi, a part-owner of Newcastle United, urged fans to be “louder” at St. James’ Park, but he won’t have to when AC Milan shows up for a pivotal Champions League match the following month.
The mother of all gifts was given to PSG versus Newcastle United on the eve of Eddie Howe’s birthday: a penalty that Kylian Mbappe dutifully unwrapped in the 98th minute. Consequently, on a night when they were headed for all three at the Parc des Princes, the visitors had to make do with a point.
After this contentious 1-1 draw, heads have already started to roll. The fact that UEFA quickly removed Tomasz Kwiatkowski, the VAR who had directed referee Szymon Marciniak to the pitchside monitor, was very instructive. That may not be much comfort to Newcastle, though, as their destiny in Group F is now sealed when Tino Livramento was unfairly penalized for a handball inside the area even though the defender’s arm was in a normal position.
Naturally, PSG had a totally different perspective on the result. Luis Enrique even went so far as to claim that “football is a very unfair sport” because his team “should have won right from the start.
” While Mbappe may have said that Newcastle had “nothing” after PSG “dominated from start to finish,” the hosts’ displeasure was also implied by the fact that they managed just seven shots on target in 31 attempts against an injured team that did not even substitute. Newcastle, however, simply took the necessary action.
“You have to frustrate teams when you come to places like this,” Kieran Trippier remarked. “We had unbelievable game management. We attempted to counterattack them even though some people might not like it.”
Although Bruno Guimaraes stated that Newcastle “had to” use the result of the game as fuel, the black-and-whites can definitely store this emotion for the final group match against AC Milan. Those efforts undoubtedly merited more. St James’ Park is going to be rocking next month following this, but Newcastle were already going to be backed, especially if something was still riding on it.
Mehrdad Ghodoussi, the Newcastle part-owner, rarely has to resort to pleading with the supporters to “be louder,” as he did last week. Ask Nick Pope, for example. “The way it’s ended, the disappointment and the bad luck, whatever you want to call it, it’s going to motivate everyone – the 11 on the pitch and the 50,000 in the stadium,” the goalie stated on NUFC TV. “It’s going to be a special atmosphere.”
This is a heartbreaking event that, in the end, has the potential to strengthen the bonds of an already close-knit club, as it did for other English teams that were the victims of subpar Champions League officiating over the years. Who could forget Didier Drogba screaming “it’s a disgrace” and glancing down the camera lens when Tom Henning Ovrebo denied Chelsea at least one penalty in 2009 despite Chelsea having multiple legitimate claims against Barcelona? A few years later, at the loud Nou Camp, Robin van Persie was oddly sent off for Arsenal for continuing to play after not hearing the referee’s whistle, a move Arsene Wenger called “embarrassing.” Following Nani, Sir Alex Ferguson was ‘not in a fit state’ to speak to the media was controversially dismissed during a 2013 Manchester United match versus Real Madrid.
The fact that the games were knockout matches made a difference. Newcastle, on the other hand, is still in the group of death, knowing that they would advance to the round of 16 with a victory over Milan and a favor from Borussia Dortmund. That would have been accepted by them.
