Mbappé: ‘We dominated this team from start to finish’

It was a dominant display by PSG in front of their own fans, but the scoreboard is the ultimate judge of performance and Mbappé was left lamenting his – and his side’s – lack of cutting edge despite a wealth of opportunities.

“We can’t afford to have so many chances and not score,” declared Mbappé. “We had far too many clear chances and we should have won the game by a huge margin.”

Indeed, PSG took 31 shots, including seven on target, while Newcastle managed to keep pace on the scoreboard with just five shots, only two of which found the frame. With the attacking quality present in Luis Enrique’s squad – Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Randal Kolo Muani, Gonçalo Ramos, Marco Asensio, Lee Kang-in, Bradley Barcola all figured in the match – Mbappé had hoped for better.

“We had far too many chances for a Champions League match, and that’s not down to the formation, it’s not down to the organisation, it’s down to us, the players, we need to be much more diligent in front of goal,” Mbappé admitted. “It’s frustrating because we dominated this team from start to finish, they had nothing but we knew it was their game to have nothing.”

The result sets Paris up for an all-or-nothing Matchday 6 clash with group leaders Dortmund, after which the capital club could either progress to the knockout rounds or pack their bags for the Europa League – or be sent packing from Europe entirely.

“We have to keep up the pressure, there’s still a match to win,” Mbappé said of the trip to Signal Iduna Park on 13 December. “We’re going to Dortmund to win and come out on top, but we’re not looking to duke it out; we need to play with personality. We had the right idea tonight, but we need to work on what we do in front of goal. If we play like that and are more skilful, things will go well in Dortmund.”