Newcastle United handed UEFA Champions League reminder after 'embarrassing' claim

‘What if?’ ‘Robbed!’ Those are the two overriding emotions from Newcastle United fans after witnessing both Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League last night.

After finishing bottom of Group F - or better known as ‘the Group of Death’ - Newcastle, as some opposition supporters jibbed on social media, had embarrassed English football. Of course, that couldn’t have been further from the truth but what has fallen after has certainly cemented that.

On Tuesday night, PSG recorded a 6-4 aggregate win over Barcelona while Dortmund also produced an incredible comeback against Spanish opposition, beating Atletico Madrid 5-4 across the two legs. The two clubs meet in the last four, guaranteeing that a team from Newcastle’s group will make the final.

What if injuries hadn’t obliterated the Magpies squad? What if United took their chances against Dortmund? What if Newcastle won in Paris? You get what we mean by now.

The mention of the word Paris is enough to send shivers down any Newcastle fan’s spine. United were minutes away from a famous win and a double over the now semi-finalists only for a dodgy Kylian Mbappe penalty to ruin it. It’s maybe easy to say but that ultimately prevented Howe’s side from having a crack at Real Sociedad and Barcelona themselves.

Heading into the final group game at home to AC Milan, it took fate out of Newcastle’s hands and rather than simply match PSG’s result in Dortmund, they needed to win and hope the French club didn’t.

The latter happened - drawing 1-1 at the Signal Iduna Park - but United fell devastatingly short, taking the lead through Joelinton before goals from Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze flipped the night on its head.

At 1-1, Newcastle had a dilemma. Either shut up shop and settle for third place, a Europa League spot, or go for the Champions League knockout stage. They decided on the latter and bravely went bust.

Once again, it’s all, if, buts and maybes but whatever Newcastle supporters are feeling this morning, we get it.

Pride is probably felt too. By hook or by crook, PSG could go all the way this year and that magical 4-1 win can be claimed as a moral victory.