Newcastle United emerged from the San Siro with a point to get their Champions League campaign up and running on Tuesday night.
Eddie Howe’s side certainly weren’t at their best against AC Milan but a point on the road in what is generally considered the dreaded ‘Group of Death’ alongside Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain has to be seen as a positive.
For that, Newcastle largely have Nick Pope to thank.
The England international made a number of key saves to keep Milan at a bay and his teammates in the game.
Indeed, Bruno Guimaraes appeared to know that.
Bruno Guimaraes responds to Nick Pope’s performance vs AC Milan
After the game, Pope took to Instagram, captioning a collage of him in action: “Journey begins. Good point in Milan.”
Guimaraes duly replied, simply responding with the words: “Big dog.”
Pope underlined his value against Milan
That’s now two clean sheets in a row for the 31-year-old.
Prior to the win over Brentford on Saturday, Pope had hardly covered himself in glory but it appears he has turned a corner.
Hailed as “outstanding” by Howe for his performance, a combination of poor Milan finishing and Pope’s sturdy presence between the posts mean Newcastle return home with a point.
According to FBREF data, the home side amassed an expected goals (xG) rating of 2.1, compared to Newcastle’s 0.2.
While Rafael Leao really should have scored, a goalkeeper not quite as assured as Pope may well have crumbled under wave after wave of Milanese pressure, albeit not too many other chances were absolutely clear-cut.
To have Pope back to something approaching his best can only be a good thing for Newcastle. Without him firing on all cylinders, the return to the Champions League could have gone an awful lot worse.
Having only cost a reported £10m, Pope is surely one of the best bargains around.
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