Champions League boss makes 'unfair' claim at Newcastle United supporters will hate

Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique moaned that football is “so unfair sometimes” after his side missed out on a place in the Champions League final.

After joining Newcastle United and AC Milan in the ‘Group of Death’, PSG and Borussia Dortmund met again in the semi-finals with the latter running out 2-0 aggregate winners. BVB took a 1-0 lead to Paris via Niclas Fullkrug’s goal before Mats Hummels’ header sealed their passage to Wembley on June 1.

"When the result is that, of course, it's a difficult match," Enrique following the second leg at the Parc des Princes. "A tight match but, to be honest, we deserved to win that match. We created 31 shots, hit the post four times and, in the two matches, we hit the post six times and didn't score a goal. It's unbelievable. Football is so unfair sometimes."

Enrique’s remark quickly made its way around the X - formerly known as Twitter - feed of Newcastle fans and unsurprisingly, they showed about absolutely zero sympathy. And you know the reason why.

Having already hammered PSG 4-1 at St James' Park, the Magpies were on course to record a historic 1-0 win in Paris only for a dodgy penalty decision to deny them. Tino Livramento was bizarrely penalised for handball in stoppage time and Kylian Mbappe converted to equalise.

Livramento's arm was in a natural position after the ball ricocheted off his chest onto his elbow but after being instructed to take another look at the VAR pitchside monitor, referee Szymon Marciniak pointed to the spot.

As a result, Newcastle’s hopes of qualifying from Group F were taken out of their own hands on the final matchday at home to AC Milan. Indeed, it was PSG who clinched second with Dortmund finishing top. The French champions beat Real Sociedad and Barcelona to reach the last four while Dortmund edged past PSV Eindhoven and Atletico Madrid before getting the better of PSG.

"That wasn't lost on me that those two teams had qualified for the semi-finals," Howe said last month. "It gives more credibility to our group - not that it maybe needed it.

"We knew when the draw came out that was as hard as we could get and we felt during those games that they were two very good teams so part of you always goes back and thinks, 'What if?' Things could have been very different, but you have to live with the here and now and we're very much getting on with our own situation."