Qarabag 1-6 Newcastle: Report, result and goals as Magpies hit six in Azerbaijan

Newcastle recorded one of their best European results in their recent history as they thrashed Qarabag 6-1 in Baku, essentially guaranteeing their place in the last-16 of the Champions League.

The match had barely settled when Newcastle took control. After early probing down the left, Dan Burn stepped forward and split the defence with a perfectly timed through ball in the third minute.

Anthony Gordon ran clear and finished low beyond the goalkeeper to set the tone for a long evening for the hosts.

Newcastle doubled the lead on eight minutes. A recycled attack found Kieran Trippier in space and his curling delivery was met by Malick Thiaw, who rose above the defence and guided a header into the corner.

Harvey Barnes twice forced saves and Gordon repeatedly ran behind a defensive line that struggled to cope with Newcastle’s tempo and movement.

The third goal arrived after a VAR review for handball, Gordon firing the resulting penalty into the top corner.

Qarabag were already overwhelmed, but matters worsened minutes later. A defensive mistake allowed Gordon to run through again, round the goalkeeper and roll the ball into an empty net for his hat-trick after just 33 minutes.

The home side could not halt the momentum. Barnes’ persistence created another opening just before the break, Gordon nicking the ball and being brought down by the goalkeeper.

He converted a second penalty in first-half stoppage time to complete a four-goal haul and send Newcastle into half-time 5-0 ahead.

The scale of the lead effectively ended the contest as a competitive fixture. Qarabag introduced Badavi Huseynov at the interval and showed more composure in possession, briefly enjoying their best spell of the match.

An initial tight-angle finish from Elvin Jafarquliyev was ruled out for offside, but moments later the full-back surged forward again and rifled a powerful shot past Nick Pope to reduce the deficit.

Barnes continued to link well with Gordon before being withdrawn, and Murphy made an immediate impact. Collecting the ball outside the area in the 72nd minute, he drove inside and struck a shot that deflected beyond the goalkeeper to make it 6-1.

From there, the match was settled. Newcastle limited Qarabag to half-chances, while Sean Neave was handed a late debut and Joelinton returned from injury off the bench.

The only late excitement came when Daniel Burn’s header forced a double save from goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski in the closing minutes.