If they don’t manage to qualify for the knockout rounds of European football’s premier competition, Newcastle have two games left in the Champions League to save themselves from total elimination at worst or the Europa League at best.
Eddie Howe and his side will have been disappointed with the reverse against Borussia Dortmund, however, Paris Saint-Germain’s surprise loss to AC Milan means that the Magpies can still qualify from Group F if they win their two matches and other results go their way.
The next game in the series of six is an away tie against PSG, a team they took to the cleaners at St. James’ Park a few weeks ago.
It was one of the great European nights as Kylian Mbappe and Co. were torn apart on Tyneside.
However, and rather ominously, the French World Cup winner has sounded a warning to Howe, his squad, backroom team and the Toon Army.
“We still have our destiny in our hands and we’re going to do everything we can to win at home and give ourselves some breathing space in this group,” he was quoted as saying by the official PSG website.
“The fans? I’d like to thank the fans for their support. On the pitch, we didn’t do what we wanted to do, but they were there, they encouraged us and we’re going to react well against Newcastle.
What about the last two games? We’ll play our first game at home. We have a lot of confidence at home.”
Newcastle have been hit by injuries to key players since that famous night and they may well find their assignment much tougher this time around.
That they have everything to play for, however, should see to it that the players don’t need any extra motivation as they seek to make it an incredible double over the Ligue Un giants.
We don’t need people to feel sorry for us Eddie howe and his backroom staff and the lads are super stars they done well to get where we are today