Newcastle United suffer first defeat since Champions League return as Borussia brush them aside
DEFEAT: Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes and goalkeeper Nick Pope react after their loss. Photo credit: Will Matthews/PA Wire.
BORUSSIA Dortmund have come to dread Champions League trips to English shores, but they finally got their act together as Newcastle bid Auf Wiedersehen Pet to their unbeaten return to Europe.
The Germans had lost their previous six visits to Premier League opposition spanning seven years, but they scratched that particular itch with a fully-deserved victory, one which would have been by an even more comfortable margin had it not been for a stand-out display from goalkeeper Nick Pope.
Callum Wilson had two chances after the break to cancel out a first goal of the season from former Manchester City academy product Felix Nmecha, but they both went begging as the Magpies failed to score at home for the first time this season to leave the group of death finely poised at the halfway point.
After sweeping away Paris St Germain with contemptuous ease as the Champions League returned to Tyneside after a two-decade absence at the start of the month, this disappointing evening proved to be the football equivalent of the difficult second album.
Add-in the loss through injury of Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy, the latter to a nasty-looking shoulder injury just three minute after his introduction as a second-half substitute, and Eddie Howe was left to deal with a harsh dose of reality after his side dropped to third, two points behind the Parisians.
At a rain-lashed St James' Park, a first-ever competitive meeting between the clubs was ridiculously open from the very first whistle, and it remains something of a mystery how it took until the final minute of the first half to break the deadlock.
That was largely down to the brilliance of Pope. If a fine early block to deny a clean through on goal Donyell Malen wasn't impressive enough, the Newcastle keeper then produced a stunning double save to keep out another shot from the dangerous Dutch forward, before somehow reacting in an instant to block the close-range follow-up from Niclas Fullkrug.
The unmarked German forward had appeared a certainty to score, and looked on in a mix of bemusement and disbelief after Pope's heroics prevented him from finding the net.
Not to be outdone at the other end, Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel stood up well to block a stinging angled drive from Anthony Gordon at the culmination of a swift counter-attack from the Newcastle half instigated by the pace and vision of Isak.
It was to be the Swede's last contribution, however, with the former Dortmund B forward limping off injured soon afterwards. The hosts weren't alone in losing an influential member of their starting XI, Dortmund skipper Emre Can failing to make it to the interval due to a nasty-looking knee injury which saw the ex-Liverpool midfielder barely able to walk as he hobbled to the sideline.
On the balance of first-half chances, the Germans probably deserved to take the lead, although it was a highly-preventable goal from Newcastle's point of view.
Nico Schlotterbeck did well to dispossess Gordon midway inside his half before having the presence of mind to continue his run down the left to fill the gap left by Kieran Trippier's forward run down the hosts' right.
The Germany defender neatly swapped passes with Marco Reus to send over an inviting low cross which Nmecha caressed past Pope into the corner of the net with a deft first-time finish from a dozen yards for the 23-year-old's first goal in this competition.
Wilson had done little since his early introduction for Alexander but should have levelled from Gordon's low centre just before the hour mark, only to pay for taking a touch as Kobel saved his low stabbed effort when a first-time shot would probably have found its intended target before the Swiss keeper could have reacted.
Newcastle pressed and probed for a way back, and with less than five minutes remaining, Wilson climbed highest to send Matt Targett's free-kick goalward from a combination of his shoulder and the back of his head.
With Kobel for once rooted to the spot, the ball looped agonisingly onto the bar before being hacked to safety as the Germans doggedly hung onto a first Champions League away clean sheet for almost three years.
There was still time for Gordon's deflected effort to come back off the frame of the goal with virtually the final kick of the game as Howe's men fell to a first defeat in nine. If the re-match in front of the Yellow Wall next month is half as entertaining, we could be in for another classic.
Pope 8; Trippier 6, Schar 6, Lascelles 6, Burn 6 (Targett 70, 6 ); S Longstaff 5 (Tonali 65, 6), Guimaraes 6, Joelinton 5 (Murphy 65, 5) (Willock 70, 5); Almiron, Isak 6 (Wilson 15, 5) Gordon 6.
Kobel 8; Wolf 8, Hummels 8, Schlotterbeck 9, Bensebaini 7; Sabitzer 7, Can 6 (Ozcan 43, 7) Nmecha 8 (Reyna 79, 6); Reus 7 (Adeyemi 63, 6), Fullkrug 6 (Haller 79, 5), Malen 7 (Sula 78, 6).
Artur Dias (Portugal)
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