Newcastle United Serve PSG Dose Of Champions League Reality In Battle Of State-Backed Clubs

Newcastle had been waiting 20 years for a night like this and it was worth the wait for 50,000 Geordies as the Magpies blew away Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 to announce their arrival as a Champions League threat. The first ever meeting between the clubs pitted the sporting interests of Saudi Arabia up against Qatar. Saudi emerged victorious and in some style as Newcastle's rapid rise less than two years since the Gulf Kingdom's sovereign wealth fund took control of the club shows no signs of stopping.

Not since PSG's collapse to lose a 4-0 first leg lead in a 6-1 defeat at Barcelona in 2017 have the French champions suffered such a humbling on the Champions League stage.

That embarrassment triggered the club's Qatari owners to break the world's transfer record twice in a matter of months to land Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Yet, the star-studded project is still yet to conquer Europe and there were lessons for PSG to learn on and off the pitch at St. James' Park.

Despite spending nearly 400 million pounds ($483 million) on new players, Newcastle are not even among the top spenders in the Premier League since the Saudi-backed takeover.

Three of their goalscorers on Wednesday -- Miguel Almiron, Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schar -- were already at the club when they were fighting relegation from the English top-flight just two years ago.

The other, Dan Burn, has fought his way to the top from starting his career in the sixth tier of English football at Blyth Spartans and cost £13 million from Brighton in 2021.

Both Burn and Longstaff are lifelong fans of their hometown club and grew up watching Newcastle from the stands of St. James' Park.

"For me and Burny to score is unreal," said Longstaff.

"There's a few here who probably