Shrewd Marseille well aware of two different teams

NEWCASTLE United’s away day woes continued on Tuesday evening as they fell to a 2-1 defeat to Marseille at the Stade Velodrome.

- By SEAN MCCORMACK

Harvey Barnes’ fourth goal in his last three games handed the Magpies a deserved lead and they went in at halftime on course for a fourth successive Champions League win for the first time in the club's history.

But a disastrous five-minute spell saw any hopes of that blow up in smoke. Nick Pope's misjudgment to race 30 yards off his line to clear a ball was punished as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang got there first, rounded the goalkeeper and whipped home a superb finish from a tight angle.

Just four minutes later, the 36-year-old former Arsenal and Chelsea striker found the back of the net again, getting across Fabian Schar to divert Timothy Weah’s cross beyond Pope to seal a vital win for Marseille.

Newcastle were left ruing what could have been as, for the third successive away game in all competitions, they blew a 1-0 lead to lose the game.

Here are five things we learned from United’s trip to the south of France.

‘Disastrous’ claim backed up

If Eddie Howe needed something to pin on the dressing room wall, then comments former France international and Marseille forward Christophe Dugarry would have been perfect.

“Newcastle is a good team, but they're only the 15th best away team in the Premier League,” Dugarry told RMC Sport.

“There are two Newcastles, the one at home and the one away, which is disastrous. Are OM capable of beating Newcastle? I say yes. In my mind, Marseille are equipped to beat Newcastle. We must have that as our objective.”