Newcastle have been dealt a fiendish set of assignments against Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Milan in their first Champions League group stage campaign since the 2002-03 season.
There were gasps around the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo when Eddie Howe’s side, who finished fourth in last season’s Premier League, were the final team to be drawn in Group F. The draw sends them to Germany and Italy to face two old powers but the biggest intrigue may lie in their meetings with the French champions, PSG, who are Qatari-owned and have risen to superpower status on the continental scene with the kind of trajectory the Saudi-run Newcastle want to emulate.
