Group of Death ultimate success – Champions League respect for Newcastle United | OneFootball

Last night in the Champions League.

The culmination of eight months.

The Group of Death showdown in Paris.

PSG hosting Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night for a place in the Champions League final that will be played at Wembley.

Both drawn in the Group of Death at the end of August 2023, they played each other in the second leg of the semi-finals last night, the Bundesliga side holding a one goal advantage from last week’s first leg.

Everybody accepted that Newcastle United had been handed the toughest possible draw at the end of August 2023. Drawn against PSG, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund.

The proverbial Group of Death producing a fascinating set of matches with such fine margins in play.

Newcastle United, despite a horrendous number of missing players, were only minutes away from qualifying for the Champions League last 16 in their final group game, but those fine margins went against them in the end, their sixth group match summing that up.

With of course an outrageous very late penalty decision having cheated NUFC out of almost certain progress, with PSG and Mbappe gifted a lifeline to draw against Newcastle in that fifth round of group matches.

It simply wasn’t to be.

However, we are seeing just how well Newcastle United did in being so competitive in this Champions League campaign.

The two clubs that did qualify for the last 16 from Newcastle’s group, ending up with both in the semi-finals AND one of them in the final for sure.

Last night in Paris, another excellent match that could have gone either way, as two top sides battled for the ultimate prize, that Champions League final at Wembley.

For Newcastle United fans with these two clubs from our Group of Death, I think fair to say the overwhelming majority of NUFC supporters were rooting for Borussia Dortmund.

The experience this season for sure, is that as a club and as a fanbase, Borussia Dortmund are a different class to PSG.

So happily, the good guys emerged the winners and head to Wembley, Borussia Dortmund putting in another excellent performance and winning 1-0 with a 50th minute Hummels goal. A 2-0 aggregate victory, winning home and away.

PSG of course didn’t take defeat well and amongst claims they were the better team, the one who deserved to go through, as well as other similar nonsense. The simple fact remains that whilst they did hit the woodwork six times over the two legs, including four times last night, if you don’t manage a single goal in over three hours of football then you can hardly claim you were unlucky. Indeed, despite dominating possession, it was actually Dortmund who arguably created the very best chances and PSG’s keeper who made the very best saves.

Absolutely bizarre, that the two clubs from Newcastle United’s group made the semi-finals and now Borussia Dortmund go forward to the final. Anybody who claims NUFC’s Group of Death wasn’t an incredibly tough challenge and Newcastle United doing so well to do what they did in the circumstances, they’ve very wide of the mark

I have no idea whether two clubs from the same Champions League group have previously both got to the semi-finals but certainly unique this season. Indeed, Newcastle United’s group was the only one to produce more than one club that got to the quarter-final stage.

Life can  be cruel and if that shocking penalty decision hadn’t happened in Paris, then Newcastle United would have been all but qualified for the knockout stages and indeed, they would have only needed a draw in the final game against AC Milan. Which I am 100 per cent sure would have been achieved if that had been the case. Which would of course have also meant PSG heading out at the group stage… and just maybe, this would have been Newcastle United contesting a two-legged Champions League semi-final with fellow Group of Death participants, Borussia Dortmund.

I think that is why we love football so much AND hate it at the same time.