Nick Pope hailed for the ‘save of his life’ as the Newcastle goalkeeper makes an ‘unbelievable’ reaction stop to deny PSG an equaliser

Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope was hailed for making the ‘save of his life’ to protect his side’s narrow 1-0 lead in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain.

Pope was called into action in the second half as PSG chased an equaliser after Alexander Isak put the Premier League side ahead at the Parc de Princes.

PSG looked to have levelled the match as Bradley Barcola turned Kylian Mbappe’s cross goalwards.

Pope produced an astonishing reaction save, with the Newcastle goalkeeper blocking from close range to turn the short around the post. The Magpies were eventually held to a 1-1 draw in Paris after Kylian Mbappe’s late and controversial spot kick – but their No 1 kept them in the game for the most part.

The Newcastle goalkeeper was lauded by TNT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher and co-commentator Ally McCoist for the stop.     

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‘What a save Nick Pope. Brilliant save from Nick Pope, one of the saves of his life to deny Barcola, brilliant,’ Fletcher said.

McCoist added: ‘That’s unbelievable. All day it is a goal. What a save that is. 

‘It is brilliant play on the right hand side by Mbappe, but he has to score Barcola, he must score.

‘An amazing save from Nick Pope. Astonishing.’

Pope made some superb saves throughout, with pundits hailing one stop as ‘astonishing’

Fletcher admitted he had already been preparing to update fans on the possible group permutations of a PSG equaliser, until Pope’s superb intervention. 

‘That is an astonishing stop, I was just preparing to say what Newcastle would have to do from this point,’ he said.

‘There was no way Pope was meant to save that.’

The hosts levelled from the spot after Tino Livramento was harshly adjudged to have handled in the area after the ball struck the defender’s elbow.

Mbappe’s late penalty keeps PSG second in the group, with Newcastle now needing to beat AC Milan and a favour from Borussia Dortmund to stand a chance of reaching the knock-out stages.