Fabian Schar: Newcastle's win over PSG was the 'perfect night'

Heinrich Griessel
5 October 2023

Newcastle defender Fabian Schar was thrilled with the club's 4-1 drubbing of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

The Switzerland international's superb stoppage-time strike capped an astonishing evening at St James' Park as the title hopefuls were overwhelmed by a side playing in the competition for the first time in two decades.

Schar and his team-mates now sit proudly at the top of Group F ahead of Borussia Dortmund's trip to Tyneside later this month after the performance against PSG made an eloquent statement about their qualification prospects.

Schar said: "St James' Park was incredible and there are no words. It was the perfect night for the whole club. We all just enjoyed the game and the night. I just think we played brilliantly over 90 minutes.

"We knew how difficult it could be, but we know what we had to do. We had to be defensively spot-on against their front four and I think we did it brilliantly.

"You see our team, the spirit, everybody works their socks off for each other. We're happy if anybody scores.

"We know we will only be successful if we work as a team."

Schar's eye-catching goal, which came after the Magpies had weathered a fightback from the visitors, was perhaps the pick of the bunch as he dispatched a curling long-range attempt beyond the helpless Gianluigi Donnarumma and into the top corner.

The 31-year-old defender - a £3million signing from Deportivo la Coruna in July 2018 - said: "I just hit it perfectly and it went in. It was one of those nights."

Victory over PSG, which came courtesy of goals from Miguel Almiron, local boys Dan Burn and Sean Longstaff as well as Schar, extended Newcastle's unbeaten run in all competitions to six games, a sequence of results which also includes a Carabao Cup third-round victory over reigning European champions Manchester City.

However, head coach Eddie Howe and his players were allowing themselves to enjoy the moment only briefly before turning their attention to Sunday's Premier League trip to West Ham.

Schar said: "We know games are coming thick and fast. It is another competition on Sunday, the Premier League is next.

"We must enjoy the moment, but then focus and be ready for West Ham."