Borussia Dortmund 2
Newcastle United 0
NICLAS FULLKRUG AND Julian Brandt dealt Newcastle’s Champions League hopes a potentially fatal blow as Borussia Dortmund completed the double over Eddie Howe’s injury-hit side.
Fullkrug’s first-half strike and Brandt’s effort 11 minutes from time secured a 2-0 Group F victory in front of a sell-out 81,365 crowd at Signal Iduna Park to go with their 1-0 success at St James’ Park two weeks ago.
But the outcome might have been very different had Joelinton not headed wide from point-blank range at 1-0.
Newcastle have now taken four points from as many games, three fewer than Dortmund.
Edin Terzic’s men will nevertheless feel they were good value for their win on a night when they bounced back from a nightmare 4-0 defeat by arch rivals Bayern Munich on their own pitch in determined fashion, to the delight of their famous Yellow Wall.
For Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, whose side must realistically take at least a point at Paris St Germain later this month to stand any chance of progressing, it proved a sobering evening as he was forced to abandon his initial plan to field 19-year-old Lewis Hall at left-back at half-time after an early booking left him in severe jeopardy.
Hall left himself on a tightrope when he was booked for hauling back Fullkrug after Brandt had played a pass in behind him, and he was relieved to see his sliced effort to clear Brandt’s resulting free-kick loop over his own crossbar.
The visitors’ task grew in difficulty with 26 minutes gone when, having passed up several opportunities to clear their lines, they were punished when Fullkrug stabbed Marcel Sabitzer’s scuffed cross past Nick Pope from close range.
The Magpies had a chance to level on the stroke of half-time when Jamaal Lascelles returned Kieran Trippier’s corner across goal, but Joelinton’s header was picked off by Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel to cap a difficult half for the visitors.
Newcastle should have been back in it 11 minutes after the break when Bruno Guimaraes played Livramento into space down the right and his cross was perfectly weighted to present Joelinton with a free header, which he planted wide with the goal at his mercy.
An increasingly open game left both defences exposed, but it was Newcastle’s which was picked apart with 11 minutes remaining after Trippier’s free-kick had failed to beat the first man.
Karim Adeyemi sent the ball upfield to leave Tino Livramento to deal with both Brandt and Sabitzer, and the former kept his cool to draw the defender and fire low past Pope.
- Shakhtar stun dire Barca -
Barcelona slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk, spurning the chance to seal early qualification to the Champions League knock-out stages.
Danylo Sikan’s dipping header in the 40th minute secured Shakhtar a famous victory as Xavi Hernandez’s flat Spanish champions failed to trouble their Ukrainian opponents.
After failing to progress from the group stage for two seasons running, Barcelona saw this clash as an opportunity to get the job done with two games to spare.
However Shakhtar, playing their home games in Hamburg because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, held their own from the start.
Barcelona missed big chances in the first match in October but this time Marino Pusic’s team shut down their uninspired visitors, who produced just one shot on target.
The hosts took the lead a few minutes before half-time, easily slicing the visitors open when Giorgi Gocholeishvili took advantage of Barcelona left-back Marcos Alonso being a long way out of position.
The full-back crossed for Sikan, who beat Andreas Christensen in the air and headed beyond the reach of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
– Additional reporting © AFP 2023
