Nick Woltemade provided the perfect response to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s stinging “idiot” remark by finding the net once again as Newcastle United stormed to a commanding 4-0 Champions League win over Union Saint-Gilloise.
The 23-year-old striker, who joined for a club-record £69 million fee that had drawn heavy criticism from the Bayern Munich legend, struck in the 17th minute with a deft flick that deflected in off Kevin Mac Allister.
His goal, his third in four games, set the tone for the Magpies’ most emphatic group-stage victory in the competition.
Anthony Gordon converted two penalties, one in each half, before Harvey Barnes rounded off the scoring late on.
Sandro Tonali and Anthony Elanga were also standouts on a night that brought Newcastle their first away Champions League win since Sir Bobby Robson’s men defeated Bayer Leverkusen in 2003.
The Premier League side had lost to Barcelona in their opening group match but made a bright start at Lotto Park. Joelinton spurned an early chance after Kjell Scherpen punched away Tonali’s cross, though it was the Italian midfielder’s persistence that paved the way for the opener.
Elanga’s delivery was half-cleared by Mac Allister, and when Tonali fired the rebound back in, Woltemade cleverly redirected the ball off the same defender and beyond the wrong-footed keeper.
Newcastle continued to push forward, with Gordon narrowly missing from a tight angle and Joelinton heading wide from a Kieran Trippier cross.
Elanga’s trickery then earned the first penalty of the night, as Fedde Leysen bundled him over in the box. Gordon confidently dispatched the spot-kick in the 43rd minute to give Eddie Howe’s men a deserved 2-0 lead at the break.
The visitors could have stretched their advantage further after the restart when Woltemade’s skill sparked a flowing attack that ended with Elanga denied by Scherpen.
However, Union threatened a comeback, with Anan Khalaili, Ousseynou Niang, and Adem Zorgane all forcing saves from Nick Pope.
That hope evaporated on 64 minutes when Leysen was penalised for handball after a VAR review, allowing Gordon to notch his second penalty of the game.
Newcastle’s dominance was sealed ten minutes from time when substitutes Will Osula and Barnes combined for the latter to drill home the fourth.
The result delivered not only Newcastle’s first points of the campaign but also a statement victory, with Woltemade answering his critics in the most fitting way, on the scoresheet.
