Newcastle’s Champions League hopes in tatters after Borussia Dortmund defeat

Niclas Fullkrug and Julian Brandt dealt Newcastle’s Champions League hopes a potentially fatal blow as Borussia Dortmund completed the double over Eddie Howe’s injury-hit side.

Fullkrug’s first-half strike and Brandt’s effort 11 minutes from time secured a 2-0 Group F victory in front of a sell-out 81,365 crowd at Signal Iduna Park to go with their 1-0 success at St James’ Park two weeks ago.

But the outcome might have been very different had Joelinton not headed wide from point-blank range at 1-0 amid a concerted fightback by the Premier League side, who have now taken four points from as many games, three fewer than Dortmund.

Edin Terzic’s men will nevertheless feel they were good value for their win on a night when they bounced back from a nightmare 4-0 defeat by arch rivals Bayern Munich on their own pitch in determined fashion, to the delight of their famous Yellow Wall.

For Magpies head coach Eddie Howe, whose side must realistically take at least a point at Paris St Germain later this month to stand any chance of progressing, it proved a sobering evening as he was forced to abandon his initial plan to field 19-year-old Lewis Hall at left-back at half-time after an early booking left him in severe jeopardy.

Hall had stepped into a team left threadbare by injuries in which Tino Livramento started on the right side of a three-man frontline.

Hall left himself on a tightrope when he was booked for hauling back Fullkrug after Brandt had played a pass in behind him, and he was relieved to see his sliced effort to clear Brandt’s resulting free-kick loop over his own crossbar.

Nick Pope was called upon for the first time to parry Fullkrug’s 13th-minute strike after slick inter-play between Felix Nmecha and Brandt, and he