Newcastle United knocked out of the Champions League as AC Milan score late to win at St James' Park

Newcastle United's Champions League dreams are over after the Magpies were knocked out of the competition by AC Milan.

A stunning strike from Joelinton had the Magpies one up at the halfway mark with knockout qualification in their sights, but goals from Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze condemned the Magpies to their fate of a 2-1 loss.

The result means Newcastle will not even receive the consolation prize of the Europa League as they finished bottom of Group F with the Italian giants claiming that accolade instead.

Eddie Howe admitted he was dreaming of a magical night in his pre-match press conference but Newcastle supporters had already been living the dream.

"It's not beyond our wildest dreams because we did have wild dreams" read a banner in the Gallowgate End, nodding to the late Sir Bobby Robson, as the players entered the pitch while the Champions League anthem received a rapturous response.

There was just one change to the team that had been comfortably beaten by Tottenham at the weekend with Callum Wilson replacing Alexander Isak up front.

The Magpies had named the same ten starting outfielders in the last five matches up to that point, with the side starting to show serious signs of tiredness - however, there was no indication of that in the opening exchanges as both teams largely cancelled each other out.

It took until the 20th minute for the game to burst into life as excellent defending from Fikayo Tomori kept the score level. Miguel Almirón looked to have the goal at his mercy after Joelinton's shot was parried by Mike Maignan but the England international somehow managed to get back in front of the Newcastle winger to send the ball out for a corner.

The away side fashioned their best chance of the half minutes later. Rafael Leão found himself in a good shooting position after Kieran Trippier was caught out on the ball but his curled effort went just wide of Martin Dúbravka's far post.

Milan attacks were rare and were increasingly so as the half wore on as Newcastle piled the pressure on. The Magpies finally found the breakthrough just after the half-hour mark and did so in emphatic fashion.

Anthony Gordon's driving run split a hole in the Milan defence and the Englishman found Lewis Miley just inside the penalty box. The youngster was arguably the calmest person in the stadium as he teed up Joelinton, who smashed home a sensational half-volley after flicking the ball up with his first touch.

St James' Park erupted as he found the top corner which put the hosts in the driving seat.

The scoreline remained the same until half-time but the pressure appeared to be getting to the away side as Leão and Maignan picked up needless yellow cards.

Newcastle remained in the ascendancy after half-time with Wilson and Gordon failing to find the net with long-distance efforts.

Given the importance of the result between Borussia Dortmund and PSG there would have been plenty of fans checking their phones as much as watching the action. Murmurs gradually turned to cheers as news filtered through that the Bundesliga side had taken the lead but they were quickly pegged minutes later.

However, there was much worse news for St James' Park faithful not long after as Milan grabbed an equaliser themselves. Leão was offered too much space in the Newcastle area and his cutback was badly mishit but Tomori. Yet the ball found its way to Olivier Giroud who squared for Christian Pulisic to finish.

With both teams needing the three points proceedings became increasingly stretched. Isak came close before Bruno Guimarães came closer still as his effort was palmed onto the bar by Maignan. The goalkeeper appeared to be unsighted as the Brazilian curled it around two Milan defenders but he still managed to get across to keep the score level.

Leão came just as close to putting the away side in the lead ten minutes later. Tino Livramento's poor pass was seized upon by the Portuguese attacker but he dragged his effort against the post as he went clean through one-on-one against Dúbravka.

However, it would not be long until they found their winner. Newcastle lost the ball on the edge of the Milan area and the away side countered. Noah Okafor found Chukwueze in the box and the Nigerian curled home to silence the home support.

The Magpies threw everyone they could forward in search of an equaliser but it was Milan who came closest as they struck the post again through Tomori.

Ultimately, there was nothing Howe's men could do as their European adventure came to an end.

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