Newcastle 1-2 AC Milan: Magpies suffer heartbreak as Rossoneri fight back dumps them out of Europe | OneFootball

AC Milan completed a dramatic second-half fight back as they beat Newcastle United 2-1 to dump the Premier League side out of Europe.

On a night when both sides needed three points to stand any chance of advancing, goals from Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze handed the Serie A side a vital 2-1 win which was not enough to prolong their involvement in the competition following a 1-1 stalemate between Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain in Germany.

Seven-time winners AC Milan have the consolation of a Europa League spot while Newcastle, who took a 33rd-minute lead through Joelinton’s stunner, slipped out of Europe completely after finishing bottom of Group F in their first Champions League campaign since 2002-03.

Goalkeeper Martin Dubravka shook off a bout of illness which had threatened his participation to retain his place in the team with striker Callum Wilson making his first start since damaging a hamstring during the 2-0 defeat at Dortmund on November 7.

Such have been head coach Eddie Howe’s selection problems that only four of the men who started the reverse fixture in September – Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon – did so on Tyneside.

St James’ reverberated as an expectant home crowd played its part, and Gordon’s early challenge on full-back Davide Calabria was cheered almost as appreciatively as a goal on a night when the stakes could hardly have been higher.

Trippier curled a sixth-minute free-kick over Mike Maignan’s crossbar after Pulisic had bundled Gordon to the ground as the Magpies maintained their early intensity, although the visitors with experienced striker Olivier Giroud providing a focal point, gradually eased their way into the game.

For all their dominance, Newcastle were struggling to create meaningful chances and Schar’s speculative 18th-minute strike from distance, which sailed high over Maignan’s crossbar, had a touch of impatience about it.

However, Fikayo Tomori had to make a superbly-timed intervention on his own line to prevent Miguel Almiron from converting Joelinton’s cross two minutes later.

Rafael Leao whipped a shot wide of Dubravka’s left post after Yunus Musah had surged deep into enemy territory to feed him as the visitors responded, but Maignan had to pluck Almiron’s goal-bound header from under his crossbar after he had met Joelinton’s inviting cross.

But it was the Brazilian who broke the deadlock when he ran on to Lewis Miley’s lay-off and smashed a right-footed shot past the helpless Maignan and into the top corner before sprinting to the sideline to celebrate with Howe and assistant Jason Tindall as the stadium erupted.

The game descended into a scrappy affair with both sides struggling to retain possession as the half-time whistle approached, and it was the Magpies who ultimately headed for the dressing rooms much the happier.

Wilson picked out the keeper with two attempts and Gordon fired over from another with Newcastle looking to kill the game off as news that Dortmund had scored rippled around the stadium.

PSG’s equaliser minutes later did little to quell the atmosphere, but spirits dropped with 59 minutes gone when the home defence failed to deal with Leao’s left-wing cross and Giroud teed up former Chelsea midfielder Pulisic to level from close range.

A much-improved Milan were causing significantly more problems with Leao in particular a persistent threat, but substitute Alexander Isak sent a dipping shot over with 23 minutes remaining and Maignan had to make a superb save to tip Guimaraes’ drive on to his crossbar two minutes later.

The woodwork came to Newcastle’s rescue 11 minutes from time when Leao’s shot came back off the post after Tino Livramento’s error had sparked a pacy counter-attack, but there was no escape five minutes later when Noah Okafor and Luka Jovic combined to set up fellow substitute Chukwueze to win it.