Champions League | Dortmund downs Newcastle; Haaland, Mbappé score in wins for Manchester City, PSG

Haaland, Mbappé score for their teams. Newcastle's 1-0 loss to Dortmund contrasts 4-1 win over PSG; Haaland, Mbappé score to boost their teams' chances of reaching knockout stage; City, Barcelona need one more win to qualify.

Newcastle was handed a Champions League reality check by Borussia Dortmund. A 1-0 loss to the German team at a soggy St. James' Park on Wednesday was in stark contrast to Newcastle's euphoric 4-1 thrashing of Paris Saint-Germain three weeks ago.

Turns out this hard-to-call group, which also contains AC Milan, might go right to the wire after all.

Dortmund ignited its Champions League campaign with a first win as Felix Nmecha turned in Nico Schlotterbeck’s cross in the 45th minute for what, surprisingly, was the only goal in an end-to-end encounter.

Newcastle, the top scorer in this season’s Premier League, couldn’t discover its clinical edge, hitting the goal frame twice in the second half through Callum Wilson and then Anthony Gordon in stoppage time.

Dortmund, which is in hot form after five straight wins in the German league, survived to join Newcastle on four points — two fewer than leader PSG.

Superstar forwards Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé were both on target Wednesday to help boost their teams’ chances of reaching the Champions League knockout stage.

Haaland scored twice in defending champion Manchester City’s 3-1 win at Young Boys in Group G, while Mbappé set Paris Saint-Germain on the way to a crucial 3-0 home victory over AC Milan in Group F.