UCL: The Germans conquer England as Borussia win at St. James Park

Borussia Dortmund are surely no Paris Saint Germain. They don’t have the better squad than the Parisians, they don’t have the better coach that the French champions, they even lost to PSG in the first game of Group F, but they knew how to beat Newcastle away. They didn’t come up with 4-2-4 tactics, they were aggressive, they played excellent defense and they used one of its many counter attack. In the end, one goal was enough: Newcastle – Borussia 0-1.

In a fantastic atmosphere at St. James Park and 52000 strong, the Germans were not impressed, since they play at the 81000 packed crowd every week and used their experience, much better reserve players and great counter attack to get a deserved win. Newcastle United maybe deserved a point, but they were lucky against Milan in the first round (0-0) and this was destiny’s ‘payback’ time. Callum Wilson had two clear chances to make it 1-1 and he missed them both. In the last 12 games in all competition (including this one), Borussia has only one defeat, against PSG and if they manage to win against Newcastle in 14 days in Dortmund, they will reach the second place in the ‘group of death’.

Not a lot of good things happened to Newcastle in the first half. First they lost Alexander Isak after only 14 minutes due to injury, then they couldn’t create a proper chance and then they conceded a goal in the 45th minute of the match. The Germans were firm in defense and let Newcastle handle the possession, and they relied on counter attacks. Malen gave all possible problems on the right to Dan Burn and he had the first good chance in the second minute, but Pope saved it. The Magpies keeper had a fantastic moment couple of minutes later when he had two magnificent saves in one attack. It was another counter attack and the ball came to Malen, whose volley was denied by Pope. The rebound came to Fullkrug, but Pope saved it again, all inside the ten meters. And then the visitors stroke from another counter attack, but this time it was Nmecha who was left alone in the middle of the penalty area and didn’t miss: 0-1.

Newcastle had the best chance of the match in the 57th minute, when Wilson came alone in front of Kobel, after a great assist from Gordon, but uncharacteristically from him, the England international missed the ideal opportunity. After that it was Borussia with more dangerous attack, while United haven’t had a shot between 57th and 86th minute. When they finally did, it was Wilson again with a miss, this time his header hit the bar.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Group stage - matchday 3

Tuesday

Inter - Salzburg 2-1 (1-0)

/Sanchez 19, Calhanoglu 63 pen - Gloukh 57/

Galatasaray - Bayern 1-3 (1-1)

/Icardi 30 pen - Coman 8, Kane 73, Musiala 79/

Man. Utd. - Copenhagen 1-0 (0-0)

/Maguire 72/

Union Berlin - Napoli 0-1 (0-0)

/Raspadori 65/

Sevilla - Arsenal 1-2 (0-1)

/Gudelj 59 - Martinelli 45+4, Gabriel Jesus 53/

Benfica - Sociedad 0-1 (0-0)

/Barrenetxea 63/

Lens - PSV 1-1 (0-0)

/Wahi 65 - Bakayoko 55/

Braga - Real Madrid 1-2 (0-1)

/Djalo 63 - Rodrygo 16, Bellingham 61/

Wednesday

Feyenoord - Lazio 3-1 (2-0)

/Gimenez 31, 74, Zerrouki 45+2 - Pedro 83 pen/

Barcelona - Shakhtar 2-1 (2-0)

/Torres 28, Lopez 36 - Sudakov 62/

PSG - Milan 3-0 (1-0)

/Mbappe 32, Kolo Muani 53, Lee 89/

Newcastle - Dortmund 0-1 (0-1)

/Nmecha 45/

Celtic - Atl. Madrid 2-2 (2-1)

/Furuhashi 4, Palma 28 - Griezman 24, Morata 53/

Young Boys - Man City 1-3 (0-0)

/Meshack 52 - Akanji 48, Haaland 67 pen, 86/

RB Leipzig - Crvena Zvezda 3-1 (1-0)

/Raum 12, Simons 59, Olmo 84 - Stamenic 70/

Antwerp - Porto 1-3 (1-0)

/Yusuf 37 - Evanilson 46, 69, Eustaquio 54/