Kylian Mbappe’s classy Newcastle United gesture & PSG apology after St James’ Park thrashing

The first Champions League match at St James’ Park in over 20 years saw Newcastle brush aside the Ligue 1 champions with goals from Miguel Almiron, Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schar. Lucas Hernandez got on the scoresheet for the visitors in the second half.

Here are five talking points from the game...

A special night for Newcastle United, whatever happened

Champions League football returning to Tyneside was always going to be some occasion, so it was little surprise to see the 50,000 Geordies at St James’ Park put on some show before a ball had even been kicked.

The Wor Flags display announced The Magpies onto the European stage once again with “hello, hello, we are the Geordie boys,” the fitting message from the Leazes Stand. The bar was raised from that moment onwards.

St James’ Park itself felt the same, but just that bit different as dozens of television crews hugged the touchline and Champions League, flags, signage and decoration draped across The Magpies’ home stadium.

Before the game, everyone knew it was coming, but it was hard not to be taken back by the iconic Champions League anthem blasting around the stadium.

Spine-tingling stuff, but the best was still yet to come.

Miguel Almiron’s fine form continues for Newcastle United

Eddie Howe said after Miguel Almiron’s goal against Burnley that, when the Paraguayan is on form, he is one of the best players around at attacking with relentless pace and energy.

Almiron was rewarded for that once again on Wednesday evening as he scored his third goal in as many starts by pouncing on Alexander Isak’s parried shot to find the bottom left corner of the goal. Although he made it look so, the finish was far from straight-forward as Almiron became the first Newcastle player to score in the Champions League proper since Alan Shearer in 2003.

It got Newcastle off to a flyer and left PSG shell-shocked as Howe’s side continued to keep their foot on the gas.

Geordies do it best

As mentioned, the Geordies put on some show before the game with the pre-match display. And it was the Geordies who kept the momentum going on the pitch as Dan Burn and Sean Longstaff made it 2-0 and 3-0 either side of half-time.

Burn’s towering back-post header was initially disallowed for offside against provider Bruno Guimaraes but an extended VAR check confirmed the former non-league player had just doubled Newcastle’s lead in the Champions League.

“Amazing,” Burn reflected on his goal to TNT Sports. “When the flag went up I was gutted. I was so angry for Bruno shooting, it comes back and soon as it got hung in the air I just went for it.”

Shortly after the restart, Kieran Trippier slipped in Sean Longstaff whose low angled drive got the better of Gianluigi Donnarumma to put The Magpies 3-0 ahead by the 50 minute mark.

How does that saying go? Geordie boys, taking the...

A Lucas Hernandez header pulled a goal back for PSG as they searched for a way back into the game.

But that search was halted by the Swiss superstar Fabian Schar who capped off an impeccable display with a stunning stoppage time strike into the top right corner to make it 4-1.

A lot could get made of the over £400million the club has spent since the takeover to get to this point. But there was something quite refreshing in the fact that three of the four goalscorers were here long before PIF and the other is a born-and-bred Newcastle fan.

Of course there has been investment, but Eddie Howe’s side are doing things the right way.

What Kylian Mbappe did at full time at St James’ Park

The build-up to the match was dominated by Kylian Mbappe’s visit to St James’ Park. A player dubbed one of the world’s best had to come up against the likes of Burn, Schar, Jamaal Lascelles and Kieran Trippier.

But things didn’t go according to plan for the French superstar as he failed to register a shot on target in the match and was ultimately kept quiet by The Magpies’ solid defensive line. Anyone excited about seeing a player Howe labelled as ‘the best in the world’ may have been somewhat disappointed with what they saw.

But that didn’t stop the clamour for the PSG No. 7’s shirt at full-time.

Sean Longstaff tried and failed to get Mbappe’s shirt as he told TNT Sports: “I was blocking him from a goal-kick so I tried to get it for my little brother.”

But Magpies’ right-back Kieran Trippier was able to get his hands on the coveted jersey after the match as a present for his son, Jacob.

Ahead of the match, Trippier spoke about Mbappe being his son’s favourite player.

"I was having banter with him last night," the England international said during his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

“He wanted to walk out with him instead of me, it was something I wasn’t really happy with. He’s always watching his clips on YouTube. I told him, ‘if you walk out with him, don’t look at me in the tunnel!’”

While Mbappe did have time to give Trippier his shirt after the full-time whistle, he didn’t join the rest of his team-mates in applauding the travelling supporters. Instead he raised his hands up to level seven as if to apologise, clapped and made his way down the tunnel on his own.

Does it get any better for Newcastle United?

The occasion, the atmosphere, the result. This was one of the best nights St James’ Park has seen in a long, long time.

It was Newcastle’s biggest ever Champions League win and PSG’s biggest group stage defeat since their Qatari takeover over a decade ago.

The past month has seen Newcastle return to the Champions League, play at the San Siro, pick up their joint biggest ever Premier League win, beat Manchester City and now PSG at St James’ Park.

Aside from ending that trophy drought, does it get any better than that?