Newcastle United deserved to win the Champions League encounter at St James’ Park on Wednesday night, according to PSG boss Luis Enrique.
Newcastle’s first Champions League home encounter in over 20 years was memorable, as Eddie Howe’s team won 4-1 thanks to goals from Miguel Almiron, Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff, and Fabian Schar. PSG’s Lucas Hernandez grabbed a goal back in the second half, but it was only a consolation for the Ligue 1 champions.
While Enrique thought the outcome was fair, he felt the large disparity in the scoreboard did not accurately reflect the game. The Magpies had eight shots on goal against PSG’s two in the game, but the French side dominated possession, with 74% of the ball.
“Those are difficult games for a manager to live through,” the former Barcelona manager said afterwards. “I truly believe the outcome is somewhat unfair, but not completely. Newcastle deserved to win because they played excellent football. However, the scoreline is excessive.”
“I thought my player maintained a positive attitude throughout the game.” Despite the fact that the scoreboard favored Newcastle, I believe the game’s finish was fair.
“My players struggled with the pressing game, but they did everything I asked of them except in the last third of the pitch.” We made several careless errors that led to their objectives.
“It was a good game, Newcastle were the better team and deserved to win, but I don’t think the scoreline reflected the teams’ differences.”
“The outcome is enormous for them. But I believe we did not deserve that outcome.”
Newcastle now leads Group F with four points after a 0-0 draw at AC Milan in their Champions League group stage opening last month. Milan drew 0-0 with Borussia Dortmund again on Wednesday evening.
Howe’s side will play Dortmund at home and away in their next two group stage fixtures, on October 25 at St James’ Park and November 7 at the Signal Iduna Park, before traveling to PSG on November 28.
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