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Key events
60 min: USG are racking up the bookings. Giger becomes yellow card number four for the hosts, as he slides into Tonali late.
59 min: Joelinton, who has taken a couple of knocks tonight, but hopefully nothing serious, is replaced by Miley. He doesn’t look in too much discomfort as he walks off.
58 min: Tonali swings it to the far stick, and that’s the easiest of claims for Scherpen in the USG goal. Not sure if that was intended as a cross or shot towards the top-right corner.
57 min: Mac Allister is booked for cynically skittling Gordon out on the left. A free kick in a dangerous area. Tonali to take.
56 min: Khalaili spins Burn with ease down the right. He’s eventually crowded off the ball, but USG are clearly targeting Burn here. Khalaili has seen a lot of the ball since the restart.
54 min: … and indeed he is. When the game restarts, Zorgane tries to find Khalaili down the right, but overcooks the pass, and Burn can shepherd the ball out for a goal kick.
53 min: Guimarães is back up. He’d taken a whack on the foot in a 50-50 with Van De Perre. Looks like he’ll be fine to continue.
52 min: Guimaraes is down and requires some treatment. On comes the physio.
51 min: Burgess is booked for cynically taking down an in-flight Elanga from behind.
50 min: … and they’re getting close again. Niang dribbles into the Toon box from the left and lashes a firm shot that pings off Pope’s chest. Then Zorgane has another of his long-distance digs. Pope behind this one too.
48 min: A long pass down the inside-right channel releases Khalaili, who chests down to get ahead of Burn. He flips a shot across Pope and inches wide of the left-hand post. Newcastle have clearly been told to get the match-clinching third, but there’s a reminder that one for USG would put a very different spin on events.
47 min: Woltemade is a force of nature. He eases Burgess out of the way on the edge of the USG D, and rolls a pass wide for Elanga, who doesn’t bother shooting because the whistle’s gone. A really soft free kick for Woltemade’s shove on Burgess, who went down easily.
46 min: Newcastle nearly make it three within 57 seconds of the restart. Woltemade sashays his way into space and flicks Elanga free down the right. Elanga enters the box and lashes a low drive that’s well parried by Scherpen.
USG get the second half underway. They’ve swapped out David for Giger.
Half-time postbag. “I think Eddie Howe has already won the most important European trophy this season: Pissing Off Bayern Munich. The fact that German football’s oldest bastion of morality is in such a twist over the Woltemade signing is absolutely delicious. I really hope he bags a hat-trick tonight because Karl-Heinz Rummenigge might actually spontaneously combust” – Chris Paraskevas
“Clearly Joelinton forgot he isn’t playing in the Premier League. He was holding up his index finger as if to say: ‘Hang on, back in England I’m allowed at least one studs-up, shin-raking challenge before I even get a talking-to’ ” – John Cashman
“Breaking News: Bayern Munich board call crisis meeting regarding Uefa’s decision on Woltemade goal. Press release imminent” – Chris Paraskevas
“Major half-time talking point beginning with V, but not VAR. Good to see an old-fashioned Vic [Chambaere] on the USG bench; it seems to have gone out of the English game. Where are the Buckinghams and Haloms of yesteryear? Maybe, like long throws, Vics are due a come back” – Richard Hirst (who left off his list perhaps the greatest Vic of them all, Guthrie, Melchester Rovers’ badboy defender from the early 80s. For shame, Hirst, for shame)
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HALF TIME: Union Saint-Gilloise 0-2 Newcastle United
It’s been easy for Newcastle so far, who have a new striker to worship in Nick Woltemade. Anthony Elanga, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon haven’t been half bad either.
45 min: Burn attempts to quarterback a raking pass towards Elanga, only to blast the ball straight into the nearest yellow shirt. Suddenly the hosts are on the counter, and when a cross comes in from the right, Ait El Hadj comes very close to steering a riser into the top-right corner. Inches wide. What a gift that would have been.
GOAL! USG 0-2 Newcastle (Gordon 43 pen)
Gordon takes a deep breath before powering the penalty into the bottom-right corner, and this scoreline doesn’t flatter Newcastle at all.
Penalty for Newcastle!
42 min: Elanga dribbles in from the right and enters the box. He takes a heavy touch and stretches for it. As he does so, the lumbering Leysen hangs out a leg as well, and catches his man. The referee points straight to the spot. Gordon will take the penalty.
40 min: Gordon and Joelinton try to open USG up down the left with a close-quarters one-two. It nearly comes off.
39 min: Van De Perre follows Joelinton into the book for a forceful slide into Tonali. Half ball, half man. Maybe he’d get away with it in the Premier League.
37 min: Gordon and Woltemade take turns to showcase silky dribbling skills, worming their way out of a packed centre circle. The ball’s shifted right to Elanga, who crosses low. Gordon, who had kept going, can’t quite get on the end of it to sidefoot home from six yards. Burgess slides in to shepherd the ball back to his keeper. The ball hits Burgess’s supporting arm as the defender sprawls on the floor, and Gordon makes the claim, but it’s never a penalty, and as the keeper gathers, we all move on. That would have been a lovely goal had it come off.
35 min: Joelinton is booked for high-kicking Khalaili on the knee. He can have no complaints. But he does make some. The referee quite rightly not interested. That was late and clumsy, if not an aggressive act.
33 min: Elanga drives down the right, busy as ever, ahead of Leysen as usual. He pulls back but can’t quite find the new Toon goal machine Woltemade. Three goals already for his new club!
Uefa award goal to Woltemade
31 min: The Newcastle goal is Woltemade’s! Replays show he indeed did back-flick the ball into the bottom right, while standing in front of Mac Allister, who turns out didn’t get a touch. A lovely finish, and one he didn’t make a big thing about at the time with his celebration. Perhaps not wanting to steal Tonali’s thunder. What an absolute gentleman.
29 min: Tripper scampers after a long pass down the right. He cuts back from the byline for Joelinton, who attempts to steer a header back across the keeper and into the bottom right. His effort bounces inches wide. Scherpen’s feet were planted there. He was beaten.
27 min: Zorgane is popping up all over the shop now. He nearly releases Ait El Hadj down the right, dropping into the centre circle and sending a forensic diagonal pass towards his team-mate, but Botman reads it well to intercept. That was a crucial intervention.
25 min: Rodriguez twists and turns down the right, causing Botman all sorts. He wins a corner, from which that man Zorgane shoots again. This effort bounces through the crowd towards the bottom right, and Pope needs to turn it around the post. Nothing comes of the second corner, but this is much better from the hosts, who have finally turned up to their own party.
23 min: Niang has some space down the left and his low curling cross is deflected out for a corner. Zorgane sends the set piece long, taking the Newcastle defence by surprise – pretty much everyone is at the near post – and it deflects out for another corner. This one comes in from the right, and Zorgane now shoots through a crowded box from the edge of the D. Straight at Pope. He caught that well enough; anywhere other than straight at the keeper may have turned out problematic for the Toon.
21 min: Elanga crosses dangerously again from the right. Gordon flicks wide right while arriving at high speed. Newcastle sense blood.
19 min: Newcastle have been rewarded for their bright start. Mac Allister’s intervention played a big part in that goal, and Woltemade was by his side – initially it was suggested the striker got a flick – but Tonali’s initial shot was on target, so it’s his goal.
GOAL! USG 0-1 Newcastle (Tonali 17)
Elanga crosses low from the right. Mac Allister heads clear, but only to Tonali, just to the right of the D. The ball drops to Tonali, who shoots towards the bottom left. Mac Allister sticks out a leg and diverts into the bottom right, the keeper having gone the other way. It had been coming!
16 min: Nothing comes of the second corner of the sequence, but Newcastle are pinning USG back. They come again through Elanga down the right, and …
15 min: Burn sends a long throw in from the left. In attempting to kick clear, Leysen slices hysterically behind for a corner. Tonali whips to the near stick. Woltemade makes his six-and-a-half-feet presence felt. Another corner coming up.
13 min: The resulting free kick leads to a corner, which leads to Tonali swinging in from the right, Scherpen once again electing to punch clear, and Joelinton flaying a wild shot over the bar. The USG keeper’s MO already clear. He likes throwing a haymaker!
12 min: Woltemade prepares to hold the ball up, only for Burgess, formerly of Portsmouth and the oldest Englishman to make his debut in the Champions League since Arsenal’s Steve Bould in the late 90s, to slide through the back of him. The USG captain slightly fortunate not to pick up a caution.
10 min: Newcastle are slowly taking control of the match in midfield. No great surprise, with USG happy to sit deep with five at the back.
8 min: Tonali, Elanga and Guimaraes paint a first-time zig-zag down the middle and into the USG box. Some crisp close-range passing. The ball eventually balloons into the air, and USG goalie Scherpen opts to punch clear rather than catch. An eccentric choice, as he’s not under too much pressure, but he gets plenty on it to clear his lines, and there is more than one way to skin a cat.
6 min: USG launch it long down the right. Botman attempts to hook back upfield, but only succeeds in kicking the ball into his own face and out for a corner. The set piece comes in from the right. Leysen, in the centre heads it back to the near post, from where Rodriguez eyebrows over the bar. That was a decent chance, and Newacstle were fortunate the USG striker didn’t get that on target. Had he done so, Pope was most likely picking the ball out of the net.
4 min: Tonali and Elanga combine well down the inside-right channel. The latter works himself a little space to shoot … but not enough so his eventual effort doesn’t get blocked the moment it leaves his boot.
2 min: Khalaili prepares to advance down the right only to be clipped to the floor by Joelinton. An early chance for the hosts to load the box and send something in. Ait El Hadj delivers, but to nobody in particular. Newcastle clear their lines.
A friendly handshake between the coaches Eddie Howe and Sebastien Pocognoli … and then Newcastle get the ball rolling. The atmosphere intense as USG make their full Champions League home debut.
The teams are out! USG in their yellow shirts with blue trim, Newcastle in those famous black and white stripes. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Eddie Howe talks to TNT Sports. “The result is very important for us tonight … the performance as well … we’re really excited about the game … we have to back our attacking players … we hope our team clicks … we have a point to prove tonight … we’ve set our plan out for tonight … we have to do it when the pressure is on.”
Some pre-match reading. Courtesy of Louise Taylor in Brussels.
Newcastle make two changes to the starting XI sent out to face Arsenal in the 2-1 Premier League defeat at St James’ Park last Sunday. Kieran Trippier and Anthony Elanga replace Tino Livramento and Jacob Murphy. The latter drops to the bench, but Livramento could be out for six to eight weeks after suffering a knee injury against the Gunners.
The teams
Union Saint-Gilloise: Scherpen, Mac Allister, Burgess, Leysen, Khalaili, Zorgane, Van De Perre, Niang, Ait El Hadj, Rodriguez, David.
Subs: Chambaere, Berradi, Patris, Sykes, Boufal, Giger, Schoofs, Smith, Rasmussen, Barry.
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton, Elanga, Woltemade, Gordon.
Subs: Thompson, Ramsdale, Hall, Schar, Barnes, Krafth, Osula, Jacob Murphy, Willock, Alex Murphy, Miley.
Referee: Urs Schnyder (Switzerland).
Preamble
Union Saint-Gilloise have only hosted English opposition once before. And if you’re a Newcastle fan relying on historical precedent to do you a favour this evening, you’re out of luck: USG beat Liverpool 2-1 in the Europa League groups in December 2023. To be fair to Jurgen Klopp’s side, it was a dead rubber in which they fielded several of the kids, but a win’s a win. So there is that to contend with.
But how much should that history, tangential at best, weigh on Eddie Howe and his team’s mind? Not much, you’d have to say, especially as the Toon are unbeaten in eight matches against Belgian teams, winning seven and drawing the other. They’ll be more concerned about their own patchy form in the Premier League so far this season, and the fact USG impressively swatted aside PSV 3-1 in Eindhoven a couple of weeks ago, and that the Belgians – reigning champions in their homeland for the first time since 1935 – are unbeaten in seven group-stage matches in Uefa competition. Newcastle by contrast have lost four and drawn one of their last five Champions League games. Can they rediscover their mojo tonight in Brussels? We begin to find out at 5.45pm UK time. It’s on!
