The superstars of Paris Saint-Germain got the quite welcome to life in the Champions League at St James’ Park on Wednesday night.
Despite PSG manager Luis Enrique’s assertion that his team did not deserve to lose 4-1, Newcastle made life difficult for the French champions all evening with an all-action performance.
St James’ Park was a wall of noise throughout the evening and the visitors were swallowed up by the atmosphere, as Eddie Howe’s side continued their impressive home form from last season.
While the PSG squad was littered with players who have strutted their stuff on the grandest stage, it looked a very tough night for them on Tyneside.
One player has even admitted as much.
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Indeed, midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery admitted Newcastle managed to “shut” PSG “down” and that were was “a lot of noise” within the stadium.
“It’s true they shut us down,” he told PSG’s official website.
“There was a lot of noise. But I don’t think that should destabilise or even put pressure on us. We’re going to look at what we did wrong on video to try and improve things and to become the best team we can be.”
Newcastle’s home form will be crucial
Though a small sample size, St James’ Park looks like it can be a fortress in the Champions League.
If Newcastle can keep things tight away from home in the competition – as they did against AC Milan last month – and rely on their ability to blow teams away on Tyneside, they stand every chance of progressing from what is generally considered this season’s dreaded ‘Group of the Death’.
It can be a real weapon in their European campaign, one that now looks as if it will go down in the club’s history.
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