Newcastle had been waiting 20 years for a night like this and it was worth the wait for 50,000 Geordies as the Magpies blew away Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 to announce their arrival as a Champions League threat.

The first ever meeting between the clubs pitted the sporting interests of Saudi Arabia up against Qatar.

Saudi emerged victorious and in some style as Newcastle’s rapid rise less than two years since the Gulf Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund took control of the club shows no signs of stopping.

Not since PSG’s collapse to lose a 4-0 first leg lead in a 6-1 defeat at Barcelona in 2017 have the French champions suffered such a humbling on the Champions League stage.

That embarrassment triggered the club’s Qatari owners to break the world’s transfer record twice in a matter of months to land Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Yet, the star-studded project is still yet to conquer Europe and there were lessons for PSG to learn on and off the pitch at St. James’ Park.

Despite spending nearly £400 million ($483 million) on new players, Newcastle are not even among the top spenders in the Premier League since the Saudi-backed takeover.

Three of their goalscorers on Wednesday — Miguel Almiron, Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schar — were already at the club when they were fighting relegation from the English top-flight just two years ago.

The other, Dan Burn, has fought his way to the top from starting his career in the sixth tier of English football at Blyth Spartans and cost £13 million from Brighton in 2021.

Both Burn and Longstaff are lifelong fans of their hometown club and grew up watching Newcastle from the stands of St. James’ Park.

“For me and Burny to score is unreal,” said Longstaff.

“There’s a few here who probably thought three years ago we were out the door. I’m so proud to be from Newcastle, I’m over the moon.”

PSG outthought and outfought

PSG have long been criticised for failing to make the most of the hotbed of talent on their doorstep in the French capital.

Most famously, they lost their only Champions League final to Bayern Munich from a goal scored by Parisian-born Kingsley Coman, who left PSG as a teenager.

Luis Enrique warned before the game that Newcastle were the side from the lowest pot of seeds for the group stage that everyone wanted to avoid.

Yet it did not stop the former Barcelona boss from naming three big money summer signings Ousmane Dembele, Goncalo Ramos and Randal Kolo Muani alongside Mbappe in a front four.

Not for the first time in the Champions League, PSG’s individuals were outthought and outfought by a greater collective unit.

Roared on by an incredible atmosphere, Newcastle made sure their Champions League homecoming was a night that will not be forgotten, even if the locals party into the small hours.

“They will be (proud) and I think they will probably be a bit drunk as well,” added Longstaff on his family’s reaction.

“They probably weren’t planning to drink on a Wednesday night but that might have changed!”

Newcastle’s new era appeared to have been given a Champions League baptism of fire with last season’s semi-finalists AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund also in the toughest section of the draw.

But Eddie Howe’s men are top the group after two games.

The hope on Tyneside is that this is just the start of a journey towards one day winning the Champions League.

Not for the first time, PSG showed a fellow state-backed club how not to go about that goal.

PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain seems to be going backward under new coach Luis Enrique.

Nine games into his tenure, the former Barcelona and Spain coach has won four games, drawn three and lost two. Wednesday night’s 4-1 hammering by Newcastle in the Champions League exposed chronic defensive errors, panic under pressure and a lack of teamwork.

These flaws have been common to PSG in recent years, and Enrique should know. He was Barcelona’s coach when it routed PSG 6-1 in the Champions League in 2017.

Yet he’s not worried, or at least he said so after Wednesday’s debacle, just as he wasn’t worried after last Saturday’s 0-0 draw against a Clermont side that was bottom of the French league.

Defending champion PSG is fifth in the league and Enrique has much to think about before Sunday’s trip to sixth-place Rennes — which beat PSG home and away last season.

PSG’s back four was ripped apart by Newcastle and the midfield completely swamped. As soon as Newcastle pressed high up, PSG’s defenders dropped so deep that Newcastle had oceans of space to attack.

In July, PSG signed highly-rated center back Milan Skriniar from Inter Milan and marauding left back Lucas Hernandez from Bayern Munich. They joined the vastly experienced captain Marquinhos, skilful right back Achraf Hakimi and European Championship-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Surely a defense of that stature should have dealt with Newcastle’s attacks?

Instead, they were statuesque.

Skriniar made an amateurish error on one goal where he failed to realise a player was running in behind him to follow up a shot saved by Donnarumma. On another goal, Marquinhos dallied so long on the ball that he ended up haplessly attempting a pass with his wrong foot and it went straight to an opponent.

For all of his shot-stopping ability, Donnarumma does not command his area with authority like Keylor Navas used to when he was PSG’s No. 1. Worse, there appeared to be no verbal communication between Donnarumma and his central defenders.

Yet this was not defending champion Manchester City, or a powerhouse like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or AC Milan — which faces PSG twice in the group stage — but a Newcastle side which, on paper at least, appeared weaker than PSG.

“We need to improve certain things in the future,” Enrique said.

The way Newcastle bashed PSG should have sent alarm bells ringing all the way to Qatar, which has bankrolled PSG since investors QSI took over in 2011 and invested billions into a project designed to deliver Champions League success. PSG has been knocked out in the last 16 in the past two seasons, and is in a group which also features Borussia Dortmund.

PSG indulged star striker Kylian Mbappe with a new contract and a massive salary raise, then buckled under pressure to bring him back into the squad amid a summer transfer standoff.

With Neymar and Lionel Messi no longer at PSG, Mbappe is the undisputed No. 1 player in a side built around him. But against Newcastle he was powerless and also failed to lift his teammates as they sank in silence, hands on hips and with heads down.

“There was no problem with the attitude of my players,” Enrique offered as a thin line of defense. “I am the first person responsible for the defeat.”

Enrique is the eighth PSG coach in 12 years of QSI’s hire-and-fire approach.

Like others before him, he was also given big funds.

Winger Ousmane Dembele has not scored since joining from Barcelona for 50.4 million euros ($55.2 million) but continues to shoot wildly at goal. He also systematically took the corners from the right against Newcastle, sending flat deliveries to the front post.

Forward Randal Kolo Muani arrived in the final hours of the transfer window for 95 million euros ($101 million) — the third-most expensive signing in PSG history. He has yet to make an impact and was anonymous against Newcastle.

After that game, Marquinhos and Mbappe did not answer questions from match broadcaster Canal Plus.

It was left to Hernandez, who at least acknowledged PSG had fallen way short, and then 17-year-old midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery, who should have been protected from the media glare rather than thrust into it.

“I don’t know where the problems lie, but we”ll take a look and get better,” the teenager said.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer