Third in their group in the Youth League, Zoumana Camara’s players had to win this Tuesday against Newcastle to keep their destiny in their hands in the race for the round of 16 of the U19 Champions League against Saint-Germain in Laye with Ethan Mbappé in the midfield and the young Ibrahim Mbaye (15 years old) at the forefront of the Parisian attack. PSG started strong by putting pressure on the Magpies, last in their group and already eliminated. They could even have benefited from a penalty following contact between an English defender and Kamil Bensoula. But on a counter-attack well felt by Newcastle, it was Bailey, completely forgotten at the penalty spot, who opened the scoring in the 10th minute. Despite a few timid attempts from Sangaré, Mayulu and Nhaga, PSG failed to come back on the English club like a very borrowed Ethan Mbappé in this first period despite a good strike a few minutes from the end of the first act , which logically ended with a score of 1-0 for Newcastle.
When we returned from the locker room, Parisian affairs had clearly not improved. Already in difficulty in the game, the young players from the capital were reduced to ten following the avoidable expulsion of Senny Mayulu following a second yellow card (48th). Obviously, PSG saw its plans reworked following this numerical inferiority. Having control of the leather mainly during the second act, the visitors put on a convincing face while looking for the break to definitively reassure themselves. For their part, the Parisians operated on the counter but the English defense well muzzled the few offensives that were timid to say the least from the locals. Finally, and without the Magpies managing to be really dangerous in the second half, Zoumana Camara’s youngsters managed to come back to Newcastle following a splendid action. Found on a beautiful opening from Mbappé, Thomas Cordier produced a superb sequence to serve Mahamadou Sangaré. The top scorer of the PSG reserve did not tremble and deceived Janusz with a beautiful volley from the left (1-1, 85th). A short-lived improvement. Invigorated following this equalization, the young people from across the Channel managed to regain the advantage thanks to a blocked strike from Johnny Anderson (1-2, 88th). A terrible blow for the locals who had fought hard to get back into the game. With this setback, PSG is third and the meeting in Dortmund in two weeks will be a final for qualification. Newcastle thus won their first victory this season in the Youth League.
