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Alejandro Grimaldo broke Newcastle’s hearts as he was late in rejecting them Champions League victory over bayer leverkusen,
Substitute Lewis Miley looked to have secured all three points at the BayArena with a 73rd-minute header after Anthony Gordon’s penalty canceled out Bruno Guimaraes’ unfortunate own goal, with Malik Thiaw perhaps lucky not to be sent off before the break.
However, after the Magpies hit the post twice, Grimaldo scored an 88th-minute equalizer to secure a 2–2 draw, leaving Eddie Howe’s men wondering what might have been as they turned their attention to Sunday’s derby trip to Sunderland.
The Magpies dominated the early stages without finding gaps in a well-marshalled home defense harvey barnesLooking for his fifth goal in as many games in the competition, Test’s sixth-minute effort from distance found his way past keeper Mark Flekken.
With assistant Rozier Meijer in the dugout in the absence of head coach Kasper Hjulmand for personal reasons, Leverkusen gradually eased his way into the game with Malik Tillmans and Ernests Poku making their presence felt behind lone striker Patrik Schick.
It was they who took the lead in the 13th minute when captain Robert Andrich headed an Alex Garcia corner past Sandro Tonali into the back of an unsuspecting Guimaraes and watched as the ball went into the net.
Flekken saved Barnes’ weak left-footed effort as the visitors tried to respond, but the Bundesliga side took courage and Thiaw enjoyed a save in the 21st minute when he headed home Tilman’s pass to Schick.
After Dutch referee Serdar Gozubuyuk initially pointed to the spot and was then advised that the foul had occurred just outside the area, Grimaldo handed the defender a yellow card before clumsily curling the resulting free-kick onto Aaron Ramsdale’s crossbar.
Ramsdale had to make a save from midfielder Ibrahim Maja after Thiaw cut inside at the end of the 28th-minute break, but at the other end, Nick Voltemed fired a close-range shot wide as Leverkusen failed to deal with a Guimaraes corner.
Flekken blocked Tino Livramiento’s deflected cross, but Ramsdale had to be equally resilient to stop Poku’s 44th-minute drive and Jerrel Quansah’s stoppage-time piledriver.
newcastleThey lacked both dynamism and accuracy in the final third before the break, firing for the second half and Lewis Hall headed the ball across goal after Gordon troubled Quinsah for an error.
But it was keeper Flekken who gave the visitors a way back into the game, allowing Voltmead to stop him and then bring him down to give away a penalty in the 51st minute, which Gordon happily dispatched.
Gordon was unlucky to have his 63rd-minute shot come back off the far post, but 10 minutes later Miley headed his cross past Nathan Tella to put his side in front.
Flekken made a brilliant save to deny Thiaw and the substitute jacob murphy Hit straight, but although Ramsdale saved from Tella, he could not stop Grimaldo’s late strike after being played in by Mazza.