Magpies brought back down to earth

NEWCASTLE, England — Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe said his side's lack of strength in depth was exposed after bowing out of the Champions League in the group stage on Wednesday.

A 2-1 home defeat to AC Milan sealed the Magpies' fate as they even missed out on dropping into the Europa League next year.

Newcastle's first experience of Europe's elite club competition for 20 years got off to a flying start when it beat Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 at home and drew 0-0 at Milan.

But it took just one point from its final four games in a devilishly difficult Group F as an injury crisis took its toll.

Victory at St. James' Park was not enough for last season's semifinalist Milan to progress to the last 16 as PSG and Borussia Dortmund reached the knockout stage.

Backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Newcastle did not splash out as much as expected in the summer transfer window.

And Howe said having depth is the lesson he has learned from a bruising campaign.

"The value of the squad, that's what exposed us," Howe told TNT Sports.

"We haven't had the ability to utilize the squad we created, that's been a big frustration for us.

"We've gone into games with almost one hand behind our back, very limited, and that hasn't helped our situation."

Howe had been forced to name the same 10 outfield players for each of Newcastle's previous five games in all competitions due to a series of injuries and Sandro Tonali's 10-month ban for breaching betting regulations.

He made just one change to his starting lineup against Milan, but had to withdraw two of his star performers this season in Kieran Trippier and Anthony Gordon after the break as they tired.

Brazilian Joelinton had fired Newcastle into a first-half lead, but goals from Rafael Leao and Samuel Chukwueze condemned Howe's men to a third consecutive defeat.

"We've got a very stretched squad, those players have gone again and again and I couldn't be prouder of what they've given me physically and mentally," added Howe.

"We've left it all out on the pitch. I don't think we can have any regrets, but of course we will learn from it and absorb everything to take it into our Premier League form."

Fatigue has also been a factor as Newcastle's form has faltered in the Premier League. The Magpies sit seventh in the table, seven points adrift of the top four.

Regretful Rossoneri

Milan has also been hamstrung by an injury crisis and underfire coach Stefano Pioli bemoaned the Rossoneri's results earlier in group play.

"We're disappointed to have ended our run in the Champions League," said Pioli.

"We knew the group was tough but I believe we deserved more — we should have taken our chances in the other games."

Fikayo Tomori was the only fit central defender available to Pioli and saved his side from falling behind early on.

The England international produced a stunning last-ditch tackle on his own goal-line to prevent Miguel Almiron tapping home Joelinton's cross.

But Newcastle's pressure was met with some reward before halftime in a spectacular opening goal.

Gordon surged through the Milan midfield and played in Lewis Miley, who laid the ball back to Joelinton to fire a sweet strike into the top corner.

Newcastle needed to win and hope PSG did not earn three points in Dortmund to go through.

An already electric atmosphere was intensified at the start of the second half as news of Dortmund's opener against PSG filtered through to the home support.

However, two goals in a matter of minutes turned the complexion of a gripping Group F once more.

PSG equalized in Germany before Milan also got back on level terms.

Newcastle failed to deal with Leao's cross from the left and Olivier Giroud set up former Chelsea player Christian Pulisic to drill home on his return to England.

Agencies