Wily group rivals teach Newcastle a Champions League lesson

NEWCASTLE – The Champions League can be as brutal as it is glorious, and Newcastle United have learned the hard way that club football's biggest competition can never be taken for granted.

In the space of 90 minutes against AC Milan at St James' Park on Wednesday, Eddie Howe's side found themselves en route to the Champions League knockout stages, then preparing for the big consolation of a place in the Europa League, before finding themselves with nothing. at all after two second-half goals sealed a Milan fightback to inflict a 2-1 defeat on the Magpies that left them bottom of Group F.

Just like Manchester United 24 hours earlier, Newcastle were eliminated from the Champions League and Europe after recording just one win in the competition. Two of the richest clubs in the richest league in the world and all they could manage was the humiliation of a pre-Christmas exit from Europe.

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Let's go back to that incredible evening in early October, when Newcastle marked their first Champions League home game for 20 years with a stunning 4-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain, and it seemed like the raucous atmosphere at St James's would carry Howe's team all the time. path to the round of 16.

But after finishing their group campaign, this victory against PSG turned out to be Newcastle's only victory. Home defeats to Borussia Dortmund and Milan saw them crash on and off the pitch.

The general rule in the Champions League is that teams will qualify from a group if they win their home games and score a point or two away. There are exceptions of course, but losing twice at home is always a recipe for elimination, especially if you can't win away.

Newcastle could complain of slim margins denying them a top-two place. They were dealt harshly by conceding a penalty in stoppage time against PSG in Paris last month after a questionable handball decision against Tino Livramento, and Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan produced a world-class save to prevent a shot from Bruno Guimarães in the final stages when the score was still 1-1.

But Milan also hit the post twice in this match thanks to Rafael Leão and Fikayo Tomori and the Rossoneri ultimately deserved their victory thanks to goals from Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze, who ultimately rendered Joelinton's first-half opener pointless.

“The stoppage at 1-1, how close it is to going in, those are small margins,” Howe said in his post-match press conference. “I don't think we were outplayed in any game. Dortmund's could have been different, but that's the elite element of the game at this level.

“I feel for the players. I saw what they gave. We weren't at our best tonight. It's painful for me and for them because I know how much they invested .

“We went into the Champions League matches without key players due to injuries and that hurt us.”

These injuries accounted for a full squad of players at one point and Howe was unable to fill out the substitutes' bench against Milan. Key absentees included injured goalkeeper Nick Pope, defender Sven Botman and striker Harvey Barnes, while Milan's summer signing Sandro Tonali began a 10-month ban for breaching betting rules in October.

Due to the unavailability of many players, it is difficult to convincingly suggest that Newcastle's return to the Champions League this season was a cancellation.

It's certainly been a learning process, with two defeats to Dortmund providing an example of how teams just below the absolute elite can set you apart through clever tactics and the experience of playing in this competition . And Howe and his players might reflect on the 0-0 stalemate in their opening match at Milan, when a safety-first approach at the San Siro earned a draw when the reality was that the home side was there to win if Newcastle had been more ambitious.

The victory against PSG was a night where everything went well, and Newcastle certainly had more positive moments in their six matches than Erik ten Hag's Manchester United, who lurched from a poor result to the other in Group A. Anthony Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes and midfielder Lewis Miley, 17, have all shone in the Champions League and Newcastle have the resources to strengthen in January and qualify for the season's competition next.

But when assessing the groups, Newcastle suffered the same fate as United and there's really no upside to that, especially when the two clubs' respective failures are likely to see England miss out on a fifth place finish in Champions League next season.

With United sixth and Newcastle seventh in the Premier League at present, it would be ironic if their exit from the group stage led to one of them missing out on qualification with a fifth-place finish in May.

Naivety cost Newcastle dear at times, both in terms of Howe as a manager new to the competition and players who lacked the experience of their group opponents.

“We definitely wanted to get to the round of 16,” Howe said. “That was really our intention. Milan's goals were born from mistakes; that can happen in any situation and I'm responsible for that, but I much prefer to make mistakes while trying to win.

“Any setback, however, should be used as fuel. Any pain from today should be used as motivation for tomorrow.”

However, this is Newcastle's only option now. Without even the Europa League to look forward to, Howe and his players have plenty of time to reflect on their Champions League campaign and how qualification was so close, but ultimately so far away.