The long and winding road to Baku proved to be a journey worth making for Anthony Gordon, who took to the field against Qarabag with his form under something of a microscope, and barely half an hour later, he found himself Newcastle United’s record goalscorer in the Champions League. Any time you are clearing a high watermark for scoring set by Alan Shearer, you are doing something right.
So Gordon was, four goals in the first half, setting Newcastle on course for a convincing 6-1 win in Qarabag that all but guarantees that the Premier League side will be in the hat for the round of 16 draw next week. Records tumbled for the England international inside 33 minutes, Gordon delivering the fastest hat trick ever by an English player in the competition. One more would come before the half was out, pub quiz staple status established as he joined Luiz Adriano (remember him) as the only player to score four goals in a half of Champions League football.
The club records are no less notable, though it is fair to say Newcastle do not have a lengthy history in the European Cup. Indeed, with his 15th game, Gordon became the outright record appearance maker for the Magpies. At least he marked it in style with goals seven through 10, three more than the legendary Shearer managed in his brief dalliances in the competition. With all of those coming this season, Gordon finds himself firmly in second in the race for this season’s golden boot, trailing Kylian Mbappe by three but two clear of Harry Kane. Two more before Newcastle’s competition is over and he will have broken Kane’s single-season scoring record for an English player in the competition.
That two of his quartet came from the penalty spot spoke to the particularly inept rearguard that Qarabag put up in the first half, Malick Thiaw also able to head home with barely a modicum of pressure on him for his side’s second. Then again when the chances did come his way from open play, Gordon looked razor sharp, darting onto a through ball down the right half space and drilling home a first-time shot to open the scoring inside two minutes.
His hat-trick goal, seconds after the first penalty, showed a similar explosive pace, allied with the composure to round Mateusz Kochalski, spoke to the sort of impressive qualities in the final third that mean Arsenal and Liverpool count themselves among Gordon’s greatest admirers.
There might have been even more for Gordon in a second half where Qarabag began to improve. However, Eddie Howe understandably withdrew his No.10 in the first tranche of substitutions just after the hour mark, his replacement Jacob Murphy getting the sixth with a deflected shot from range. There are still 2,500 miles to cover on the return journey and fresh legs will be needed for the trip to Manchester City on Saturday night.
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Gordon could do with translating some of this European form into the Premier League, where he has three goals, two penalties, to go with the five he has in the Champions League. Some of his off-form in domestic football can be explained by finishing struggles — he has 4.01 non-penalty expected goals (npxG) — but it is certainly the case that Gordon looks more effective in the open encounters of continental football. There, he averaged 0.41 npxG per 90 minutes even before tonight’s heroics, a quite significant improvement compared to 0.27 npxG in the Premier League.
