Newcastle United's hearts were left broken on Tuesday night as they came perilously close to recording a historic victory at the Parc des Princes until referee Szymon Marciniak had other ideas.
He awarded Paris Saint Germain a controversial penalty in the eighth minute of stoppage time as Tino Livramento's outstretched arm made contact with the ball. Kylian Mbappe, unsurprisingly, converted the resulting spot kick to prevent the visitors from completing a double over the French giants and leave Eddie Howe's side on the brink of elimination
In the final group stage game, Newcastle must record all three points at home to AC Milan and hope Borussia Dortmund can topple PSG to qualify for the knockout stages.
Alexander Isak opened the scoring for the second game running on the night as the Swedish superstar, giving the visitors a lead to defend from the 24th minute onwards.
Despite stepping up for the Magpies when it mattered, it was all about the team performance as a whole and whilst they can feel hard done by to have three points snatched away, a draw somewhat flattered Howe's side on the balance of play.
Newcastle's game in numbers
With the scintillating Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele on either flank, it is hardly surprising to see that Newcastle had to face a siege of PSG attacks on their goal.
Whilst Les Parisiens dominated 78% of the ball, compared to the Toon's 28%, the most damning statistic was the amount of chances the home side created and xG they racked up.
According to Sofascore, PSG created an xG of 4.54 from a staggering 31 shots on the night whilst Newcastle garnered 1.29 from a mere five shots on goal – 1.23 of which came from Isak alone.
That said, xG is just the barometer for how many chances a side creates and whilst it suggests the English side were dominated, PSG struggled to put the ball in the back of the net and had to rely on a dubious penalty to snatch a point.
The Magpies ultimately had Nick Pope to thank for his heroic display, as he prevented a whopping 2.56 goals in total, as per FotMob, however, there was another hero in black and white who had a night to remember, despite conceding the dubious penalty.
Tino Livramento's game in numbers
On a night when Newcastle had to throw caution to the wind, Livramento was dubbed "fearless" for his performance against PSG by writer Henry Winter and deservedly so, as the game-defining moment was unable to take the gloss off what was a sensational display.
He was up against one of the most dangerous wingers on the planet in Dembele but stood his ground like all top defenders and was only dribbled past once.
Clearances
4
Ground duels (won)
6 (5)
Touches
51
Accurate passes
24/29 (83%)
Key passes
1
Dribble attempts (succ.)
1 (1)
All stats via Sofascore
Whilst he was near faultless defensively, making three tackles, four clearances and winning five of his six ground duels, it was his excellent solo run that created the opening for Isak's goal.
Livramento slalomed past multiple PSG players with his searing pace and fleet-footed dribbling before sliding a pass into Miguel Almiron, whose curled effort was spilt by Gianluigi Donnarumma and tapped in by Isak.
Following an excellent shift against the French giants, the 21-year-old's performance was hailed as "absolutely superb" by journalist Cameron Smith, whilst Dominic Scurr of the Shields Gazette handed him an 8/10 match rating, underscoring how incredible he was on the night- with goalscorer Isak, for instance, awarded just a 7/10 for his overall display.
There was a bizarre 5/10 rating from French outlet L'Equipe for Livramento, but that was seemingly an unfair reflection of his performance, while perhaps influenced by the youngster's late 'handball'.
If he continues to deliver the above performance on a regular basis, Dan Burn will have no chance of dislodging him from the starting eleven once he returns.
