(Football news) After the Manchester United let a 3-1 lead slip in a 3-3 draw with Galatasaray, the Magpies were brutally denied a historic victory against Paris Saint-Germain in a 1-1 draw with the Ligue 1 champions on Tuesday.
Following Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Newcastle, manager Mikel Arteta famously expressed his displeasure with both match officials and VAR. The Gunners should now have the opportunity to clarify their position with the Spaniard after being the recipient of a highly dubious decision at the Parc des Princes.
Newcastle went into defensive mode against Luis Enrique’s team after Alexander Isak had silenced the Paris fans in the first half, and it looked like they would hold on for possibly their biggest-ever European victory. However, eight minutes into added time, Kylian Mbappe scored from the spot after Tino Livramento’s handball.
Though Livramento had little control over the ball deflecting off his thigh and onto his elbow, fans and pundits alike criticized the decision to penalize him. However, Newcastle hardly left their own half in the second half, leaving them vulnerable to late drama as PSG launched attack after attack in the French capital.
But for Howe’s deflated team, a trip back to the comforts of home is precisely what the doctor ordered. In their most recent Premier League match, they defeated a 10-man Chelsea 4-1 in the North East, dropping them to seventh position, only one point below Man United.
Howe’s crop has now won all five of the Magpies’ Premier League home games. Prior to Raheem Sterling’s magnificent free kick, the team had also kept four straight top-flight clean sheets at the stadium. However, two similar set-pieces in Manchester United’s match against Galatasaray saw Andre Onana make headlines for the wrong reasons once more.
Alejandro Garnacho’s fierce near-post finish put Manchester United ahead of Galatasaray, who also lost to a Bruno Fernandes piledriver in the first half of Wednesday’s Champions League match, just a few days after starting the rout of Everton with one of the most spectacular goals the Premier League has ever seen.
As Scott McTominay restored the Red Devils’ two-goal lead, Onana almost let a Hakim Ziyech free kick sail past him. However, the Cameroonian subsequently allowed another set-piece from the Moroccan to nestle into the side of the net before a spectacular strike from Kerem Akturkoglu completed the six-goal extravaganza. Onana’s team was supposedly expected to finish second in Group A with maximum points in Istanbul.
