Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Newcastle United: In a major turn of events in the Group of Death, Dortmund dents Magpies’ knockout qualification hopes after sweet victory

Borussia Dortmund has defeated UEFA Champions League comeback kings Newcastle in the fourth match of the tournament, thus causing a major heartbreak for the Magpies. Fullkrug and Brandt were on target to seal the deal for the Black Yellow, as on the other game of Group F, AC Milan has stunned PSG 2-1.

Borussia Dortmund stuns Newcastle United

Borussia has been one of the strongest teams in Europe this season. Before their 0-4 drubbing in the hands of arch-rivals FC Bayern Munich in the Klassiker courtesy a Harry Kane hattrick, they had stayed unbeaten in the German League. Edin Terzic’s side was instrumental in the UEFA Champions League group stage, where they were grouped along some of the strongest teams in Europe, thus earning the epitaph of Group of Death, with PSG, AC Milan and UCL comeback stars Newcastle United, who returns to the European top flight after a hiatus of two decades.

With an intense match-up between two of the best sides, Newcastle rather came depleted at Signal Iduna Park, with seven of their main stars getting injured and Sandro Tonali, their breakout star serving a ten month ban for breaching betting rules. Although they have been consistent in last two months, their last defeat came against the same side two weeks ago. The Toons became the first team since Manchester United in 1997-98 to name eight English players in their starting line-up, as several heavyweights were forced to miss out the game.

Lewis Hall, who had turned head over heels at Old Trafford last week on defeating Manchester United in the Carabao Cup, had collected an early bath, struggling on the left flank, and was taken off the field during half-time. Livramento, the star of their match-up against the Red Devils, looked easy-going on the right-back position after he was reverted back to his favorable spot, after starting on the midfield. Headers from Joelinton and Schar lacked the firepower to test home custodian Kobel, as Willock hit straight to the Swiss.

A night to remember for the Germans

Borussia, who has been brilliant since last season, almost winning the Bundesliga, before losing out to serial winners Bayern Munich on the dying minutes, were up and running since the first minute. With the home fans on their back, they delivered a top notch performance, with special mentions to Julian Brandt, as his exuberance skills must have left everyone in awe of his talent.

It was Fullkrug who started off the proceedings for the home side before Brandt decided to finish things off with a sublime counter-attack on the 79th minute, sealing the deal of winners with authority. Dortmund have had their grasp over the match since first minute, as Joelinton’s effort was the best the Toons could get, but he headed cross five yards wide, thus keeping Dortmund at bay.

Manager Eddie Howe was seen speaking after the game to the Press, when he said, “We weren’t at our best today. The intensity and quality of our normal game was missing. We still had our moments and Joelinton’s header is probably the key moment in the game from our perspective. He would back himself to score that if it came in again.”

With this defeat, Newcastle’s qualification hopes were dealt with a blow after they started their UEFA Champions League return in some fashion, after drawing away against Italian big gun AC Milan, before thrashing PSG 4-1 at UCL’s return to Tyneside after 20 years. But, since then, their qualification has suffered a huge blow owing to Dortmund’s double victory against them, both home and away, thus leaving them at the bottom of the group table. They would be facing the uphill task of travelling to PSG in their next fixture, which could be labelled as a potential knockout for Eddie Howe’s men.

On the other hand, PSG suffered a shock defeat in the hands of AC Milan, thus opening the group quite apart, with all four teams well placed for a qualification spot in the next round.

Group of Death, indeed!