In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) went from being on the brink of exit to fighting back from the jaws of defeat to brightening their prospects of progressing from the UEFA Europa League's "Group F of Death" after Kylian McBarbie's controversial 12-yarder made it a 1-1 draw against Newcastle with just eight minutes of extra time remaining.
Looking back at that October match, PSG suffered a 1-4 defeat away to Newcastle and returned home today only to concede the first goal on 24 minutes. Newcastle midfielder Mikel Almiron's long-range shot was parried by goalkeeper Kianluca Donnarumma, but striker Alexander Isak quickly added the extras.
Nevertheless, PSG did not lose heart and fought back with 31 shots on goal compared to Newcastle's five. However, the Ligue 1 giants seemed to be struggling to break through their opponents' defense until a controversial scene in extra time when PSG winger Oswald Ndidi's cross from the right side of the penalty area hit Newcastle defender Liev van der Ven in the chest before bouncing off his hand, and the referee, after watching the VAR, ruled that it was a handball by Liev van der Ven, awarding a penalty to PSG, which Kilian McBarbie converted to secure a thrilling 1-1 draw. to force a thrilling 1-1 draw.
It is worth noting that the UEFA Technical Committee recommended at the end of last season that a handball should not be blown if the ball merely touches the body rather than shoots and does not rebound into the hands. However, the English media have questioned the refereeing of this match for not following this recommendation.
