PSG and Newcastle Face Must-Win Clash in Champions League Group Finale

Any slip could prove fatal in a wide-open race for direct qualification

With all eight teams in the group locked on 13 points, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United know that any dropped points in Matchday 8 of the Champions League could end their hopes of securing direct qualification to the round of 16.

Form & team news

PSG returned to the top of Ligue 1 with a 1-0 win away at Auxerre on Friday and head into this decisive clash with a key advantage — two extra days of rest compared to their visitors.

The reigning Champions League holders are determined to avoid last season’s fate, when they failed to qualify directly for the knockout stage. This time, only a win guarantees PSG a top-eight finish. Their situation was complicated by a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat at Sporting CP, where they conceded a decisive goal in the 90th minute.

Home form, however, offers encouragement. PSG have lost just two of their last 18 home Champions League group-stage matches (13 wins, three draws), making the Parc des Princes a formidable setting for a high-stakes showdown.

Newcastle arrive in Paris following a 2-0 Premier League defeat to Aston Villa, meaning they have won just one of their last five matches in regulation time (two draws, two losses). That lone success came in Europe, where they thrashed PSV 3-0 last week to claim their fourth win in six Champions League group matches (one draw, one defeat).

Crucially, Newcastle have kept a clean sheet in all four of those victories, and qualification for the knockout stage is already secured — a historic first for the club. Avoiding the play-off round will be far more challenging, though, given that Eddie Howe’s side have won just three away matches all season (five draws, six defeats).

Head-to-head

Newcastle are unbeaten in their two previous Champions League meetings with PSG during the 2023–24 campaign (one win, one draw), including a dramatic 1-1 draw in Paris settled by a controversial 98th-minute penalty.

That said, Newcastle have won just one of nine European away matches in France (three draws, five defeats).

Key stats & trends

• PSG vs English teams at home in the Champions League has produced 54 goals across the last 16 matches, with both teams scoring in 14
  
• Both teams have scored in just four of PSG’s 13 home matches in all competitions this season
  
• Newcastle have conceded just one first-half goal in the Champions League group stage — the fewest of any team
  
• The half-time result has matched the full-time score in four of Newcastle’s last five matches
  

Players to watch

Three of Désiré Doué’s six goals this season have come between the 40th minute and half-time, including both of his Champions League goals.

For Newcastle, Anthony Gordon is closing in on history. With six Champions League goals, he needs just one more to become the club’s all-time leading scorer in the competition, having drawn level with Alan Shearer against PSV last week.

Absentees

• Nuno Mendes and Fabián Ruiz missed PSG’s last match
  
• Achraf Hakimi has yet to feature since the Africa Cup of Nations final
  

Joelinton picked up an injury at the weekend and could add to Newcastle’s already lengthy injury list