Newcastle United’s quest to advance to the Champions League knockout stage was dealt a setback as they suffered a loss to Borussia Dortmund.
Niclas Fullkrug opened the scoring for the hosts in the first half, while Julian Brandt sealed the victory with a late goal from a fantastic counter-attack, completing a double over their English rivals in Group F.
Newcastle’s most promising opportunity came just after the break when Joelinton missed a header from Tino Livramento’s cross, squandering a clear-cut chance. Despite a much-improved second-half performance from the injury-plagued visitors, Dortmund controlled much of the first half and created better opportunities.
The match also experienced a brief interruption in the second half as fake gold bars and other objects were thrown onto the pitch from the ‘Yellow Wall,’ as part of a protest against Uefa’s proposed Champions League reforms, with one banner reading ‘You don’t care about the sport – all you care about is money.’