‘No excuses’ for Eddie Howe after injury-hit Newcastle fall in Champions League game at Dortmund

DORTMUND – Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said he would not use his side’s mounting injury list as an excuse for a 2-0 Champions League loss at Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

The Magpies, who lost 1-0 two weeks ago to Dortmund at St James’ Park, went down to a fired-up home side who were thumped 4-0 by rivals Bayern Munich on Saturday.

Niclas Fullkrug opened the scoring with his first Champions League goal midway through the first half, before the impressive Julian Brandt sealed the game with a strike 11 minutes from time.

Howe’s side are missing several first-team players through injury and suspension, which the manager said meant he had “lost the ability to make certain decisions”.

“In a sense, I’m being forced to make certain decisions and pick certain teams,” said Howe, who faces an anxious wait over the fitness of Callum Wilson after the striker went off at half-time due to “tightness in his hamstring”.

“(But) I’m not going to sit here and make excuses, that’s what we have.

“We weren’t far away tonight and I think us at our very best, even with the players we have out, is good enough.”

Newcastle, who thumped Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 at home earlier in Group F, now face a difficult path to qualify for the knockout stages.

They are bottom of the group on four points with a win and a draw, behind Dortmund (seven), PSG (six) and AC Milan (five).

Howe’s men will face PSG away just three days after hosting Chelsea in the league later this month, while Milan will play at St James’ Park three days after the Magpies take on Tottenham in London in December.

Howe also said “the game just came too quickly for us” after Saturday’s 1-0 win over Premier League rivals Arsenal.

“After what the players have given in recent weeks, the game came too early,” he said, adding that it was “difficult to tell” if the team could still qualify for the knockout stages but would “do our best to win our last few games”.

In the other group match, Milan boss Stefano Pioli said that Rafael Leao could be a world-beater after the inconsistent Portugal winger outshone Kylian Mbappe in the 2-1 win over PSG.

Leao drew Milan level with an acrobatic overhead kick and terrorised the PSG defence every time he had the ball, while France star Mbappe struggled to get into the thrilling game at the San Siro.

Tuesday’s stellar performance, after they had trailed to an early effort by Milan Skriniar, came in stark contrast to recent underwhelming displays and reignited Milan’s hopes of making it out of Group F.

“Rafa needs to have another look at his display tonight because how he performs is only down to him,” Pioli said.

“He showed tonight that he has a huge amount of quality. If we all play with that same intensity, we can have a lot of success.”

Milan started the day bottom of the group with no goals scored but are now right back in contention for the last 16.

“We get unconditional support from the fans even if things are difficult in the league,” said Olivier Giroud, who headed Milan’s winner early in the second half. “This win gets the group going again... it does us a lot of good.” AFP, REUTERS