UCL: Dortmund crush Newcastle’s dreams with 2-0 home win

Borussia Dortmund secured a 2-0 victory over Newcastle at home on Tuesday, thanks to a late goal from Julian Brandt that dashed the hopes of the English team to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage.

Newcastle, who returned to the Champions League after 20 years, faced Dortmund in a must-win game to revive their chances of reaching the last 16, but they were dominated by the German team throughout the game.

Niclas Fuellkrug opened the scoring in the first half before Brandt sealed the deal after 79 minutes.

The win put Dortmund on top of the tough Group F with two games left, three points ahead of Newcastle, and with the advantage in the head-to-head record.

“It feels good to keep a clean sheet against a very good English team after conceding four goals in this stadium three days ago, and the two goals will do us good,” Brandt told Amazon Prime as Dortmund recovered from their 4-0 defeat by Bayern Munich.

Paris Saint-Germain can reclaim their lead in the group by avoiding a loss at AC Milan later on Tuesday.

“We were not at our best tonight. We lacked intensity and quality, but we still had some moments,” said Newcastle manager Eddie Howe.

The Magpies need to win their remaining games at PSG and against Milan at home to have a chance of advancing.

Dortmund coach Edin Terzic praised his side’s “really good performance as a complete team”.

“We didn’t allow much, and we had the game under control,” he told Amazon Prime.

Newcastle were hit by injuries, with Howe losing defenders Dan Burn and Matt Targett to long-term injuries in their 1-0 win over Arsenal on the weekend.

Dortmund, who were outplayed by a Harry Kane-inspired Bayern just three days ago, started confidently as Fuellkrug and Karim Adeyemi tested Newcastle’s goal in the first 15 minutes.

Fuellkrug, who made his Germany debut a year ago, broke the deadlock in the first half, scoring his first goal in the Champions League by poking in a cross from Marcel Sabitzer.

Felix Nmecha, who scored the only goal at St James’ Park last month, and Brandt controlled the midfield, keeping a safe distance from the undermanned Newcastle defence.

The teams exchanged chances early in the second, with Dortmund’s Brandt forcing saves from Nick Pope on either side of Joelinton heading wide for Newcastle.

A tired Adeyemi gave away a dangerous free-kick to the left of the box with 10 minutes to go, but Kieran Trippier’s delivery was easily cleared, and Dortmund hit them on the break to finish the game.

Adeyemi won the ball back and fired a perfect pass into Newcastle’s half, finding the running Brandt.

The Dortmund midfielder took advantage of the two-on-one situation, faking a pass before slotting past a helpless Pope to double the lead.

Dortmund’s win means they are the only team to have beaten Newcastle in the Premier League team’s last 13 matches, having done so twice in two weeks.