Manchester City’s Erling Braut Haaland scores the team’s third goal against BSC Young Boys in the Champions League group game on October 25, 2023
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Newcastle was handed a Champions League reality check by Borussia Dortmund. A 1-0 loss to the German team at a soggy St. James’ Park on Wednesday was in stark contrast to Newcastle’s euphoric 4-1 thrashing of Paris Saint-Germain three weeks ago.
Turns out this hard-to-call group, which also contains AC Milan, might go right to the wire after all.
Dortmund ignited its Champions League campaign with a first win as Felix Nmecha turned in Nico Schlotterbeck’s cross in the 45th minute for what, surprisingly, was the only goal in an end-to-end encounter.
Newcastle, the top scorer in this season’s Premier League, couldn’t discover its clinical edge, hitting the goal frame twice in the second half through Callum Wilson and then Anthony Gordon in stoppage time.
Dortmund, which is in hot form after five straight wins in the German league, survived to join Newcastle on four points — two fewer than leader PSG.
Haaland, Mbappe on target
Superstar forwards Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé were both on target Wednesday to help boost their teams’ chances of reaching the Champions League knockout stage.
Haaland scored twice in defending champion Manchester City’s 3-1 win at Young Boys in Group G, while Mbappé set Paris Saint-Germain on the way to a crucial 3-0 home victory over AC Milan in Group F.
That broke a scoring drought in the competition for Haaland, who has nine in as many Premier League matches this season. Mbappé has eight in eight Ligue 1 games and also netted in PSG’s Champions League opener.
City now just needs to beat the same opponent in two weeks’ time to book its place in the last 16. Barcelona is in a similar situation after a 2-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk maintained a perfect start to its Champions League campaign too.
PSG leads a group that is getting ever tighter and leaves Milan, last season’s semifinalist, with the prospect of not even qualifying for the Europa League as a consolation.