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The visitors started brightly, neatly playing through USG's press setting up Elanga for a blocked attempt on goal in the opening minutes. Newcastle kept the pressure up on their hosts, hemming the home side in with a string of set pieces including a patented long throw from Dan Burn. Eventually, that momentum told, as USG failed to completely clear from an Elanga cross. Sandro Tonali steamed onto the dropping ball, sending a side-footed volley back towards goal. Woltemade quickly reacted, flicking the ball past Kjell Sherpen's despairing dive into the vacated half of his net.
That brought a response from USG, as the Belgian champions looked to progress the ball quickly into Newcastle's half. A string of set pieces of their own brought two edge-of-the-box efforts from Adem Zorgane. Both were comfortably dealt with by Nick Pope in the Newcastle net.
Despite that brief flurry, Newcastle never looked particularly rattled. The Premier League side were more than up to the task of playing through the USG press, quickly scything through the midfield thanks to clever link up play from Woltemade and progressive dribbling by the elusive Elanga. Joelinton should have doubled the Magpies lead when he nodded a volleyed Kieran Trippier cross past Sherpen's far post in the 26th minute.
It was Elanga who provided the telling contribution for Newcastle's second. The Swedish winger cut in from the left-hand side before leaving Ousseynou Niang in the dust after two lightning quick step overs. His following touch was just heavy enough to prompt a lunging tackle by Fedde Lysen, however, the centre back failed to reach the ball before Elanga, felling the Newcastle man just inside the corner of his own box. Gordon stepped up for the resulting spot kick, who calmly sent Sherpen the wrong way, nestling the ball in the bottom right corner of the goal.
Newcastle kept up the pace straight from the second half whistle. Woltemade's quick feet in the middle of the park allowed him to unleash Elanga, whose fizzing effort was parried away by the embattled Sherpen. That elicited a response from the hosts. Anan Kahalili's curling effort leaked past the Magpies far post, before Nick Pope was called into action twice in quick succession denying Niang's driven hit from a tight angle and another Zorgane effort from the edge of the box.
Again, that intermission in Newcastle's dominance proved be brief. Just after the hour mark, a dnagerous insinwing cross from Gordon zipped off the turf, striking Lysen's arm as he grappled with Woltemade. The referee was beckoned to the screen by the VAR, setting up Gordon to convert his second penalty spot of the game. This time Sherpen went the right way, but he was still unable to stop the Liverpudlians strike which was fired into the side netting.
To their credit, USG continued to push forward for a goal, however, with Eddie Howe ringing the changes in the 73rd minute, the Magpies had plenty of fresh legs on the pitch to counter at pace. Their fourth came after Anthony Gordon won the ball on the edge of his own box and released William Osula. The young striker held the ball up masterfully, before sliding a pass into the path of Barnes. The winger seemed to dither on his chance, allowing the USG defender back in for a challenge. His side footed effort looped off the lunging tackle and nestled in the back of Sherpen's net. Entering this game, Newcastle's wingers had just one assist among them. It will give Howe immense pleasure to see his team finally start to flex their attacking muscles in the 2025/26 season.
GOAL rates Newcastle's players from Joseph Marien Stadium.
