On the eve of Eddie Howe's birthday, PSG were presented with the mother of all gifts against Newcastle United: a 98th-minute penalty that Kylian Mbappe duly unwrapped. The visitors, as a result, had to settle for a point on a night they were on course for all three at the Parc des Princes.
Heads have already begun to roll following this controversial 1-1 draw. It was rather telling that Tomasz Kwiatkowski, the VAR who sent referee Szymon Marciniak to the pitchside monitor, was swiftly stood down by UEFA. Even if that is of little consolation to Newcastle, whose fate is now out of their hands in Group F, after Tino Livramento was bizarrely penalised for a handball inside the box despite the defender's arm being in a natural position.
PSG, unsurprisingly, viewed the outcome very differently with Luis Enrique going as far as to say 'football is a very unfair sport' because his side 'should have won right from the start'. Mbappe may have claimed Newcastle had 'nothing', after PSG 'dominated from start to finish', but that jibe also hinted at the hosts' frustration on a night they mustered just seven shots on target from 31 efforts against an injury-hit side who did not even make a substitution. Yet Newcastle just did what they had to do. "When you come to places like this, you have to frustrate teams," Kieran Trippier said. "We managed the game unbelievably. Some people may not like it, but we still tried to go after them on the counter-attack."
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Those efforts deserved more, but Bruno Guimaraes said Newcastle 'had to' use the outcome of the game as fuel and the black-and-whites can certainly bottle this feeling for the final group game against AC Milan. Newcastle were already going to be backed, particularly if something was still riding on it, but St James' Park will be absolutely rocking next month after this.
It is hard to imagine Mehrdad Ghodoussi having to resort to calling on the fans to 'be louder' as the Newcastle part-owner did last week. Just ask Nick Pope. "The way it's ended, the disappointment and the bad luck, whatever you want to call it, it's going to motivate everyone - the 11 on the pitch and the 50,000 in the stadium," the goalkeeper told NUFC TV. "It's going to be a special atmosphere."
This is a gut-wrenching experience that can ultimately bring an already tight-knit group even closer together just as it did for other English sides who fell foul of poor officiating in the Champions League over the years. Who could forget Didier Drogba looking down the lens of the camera and roaring 'it's a disgrace' after Tom Henning Ovrebo refused to award Chelsea at least one penalty despite several valid appeals against Barcelona in 2009? Robin van Persie was bizarrely sent off for Arsenal for playing on after failing to hear the referee's whistle at the deafening Nou Camp a couple of years later in a decision Arsene Wenger labelled 'embarrassing'. Sir Alex Ferguson was 'not in a fit state'' to face the media after Nani was controversially sent off for Manchester United against Real Madrid in 2013.
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The difference with those games was they were knockout fixtures. Newcastle, in contrast, are still alive in the group of death, knowing that a win against Milan and a favour from Borussia Dortmund will see the Magpies into the last 16. They would have taken that.
This is a flaky PSG side, after all, who have to go to Dortmund having lost both of their opening away games in the group by an aggregate score line of 6-2. Dortmund may have already qualified, but the Bundesliga giants know a result will secure top spot in Group F and a potentially more favourable draw, which is all the incentive the hosts need in front of their own support. That should be music to Newcastle's ears.
"We're still in the competition," Howe told reporters. "The first thing to do is look at that because it could have been different tonight. That game is going to take on huge significance for lots of different reasons.
"We're back at home, we're excited by the game when it comes along. They are huge positives for us. That's why we can't lose fact of that despite the disappointing ending."