Perfect 10: Newcastle United star picked in WhoScored's Champions League Team of the Week
Newcastle United absolutely demolished Qarabag on Wednesday night in the Champions League play-off first leg.
The Magpies take a rather comfortable 6-1 lead back to St James' Park, meaning that the lads should be able to coast through the second leg in front of their home crowd.
Newcastle made it look very easy in Baku, particularly in the first half, as they romped to a 5-0 lead at half-time thanks to four goals from Anthony Gordon, two of which came from the penalty spot.
In truth, 5-0 flattered the hosts as Newcastle were pretty wasteful with several chances, and the Qarabag goalkeeper actually played a blinder. However, Gordon's relentless pressing proved too much for the Azerbaijani side.
Anthony Gordon romped to a perfect rating on WhoScored?
Gordon's performance earned him a perfect 10 for WhoScored?'s ratings system, which unsurprisingly earned him a place in their Team of the Week for the Champions League.
He was the only Newcastle player to make it into the XI, however. Clearly, they felt that the lack of challenge posed by Qarabag meant that anyone else's efforts weren't too spectacular.
They may have a point, in all honesty. As much as Newcastle were far and away the better side, other than Gordon, nobody particularly had an outstanding game; it was all just very routine.
Can we play Qarabag every week?
We'd take that every week, though, if we're being honest. If we could make every game look like a training match, then we're laughing all the way to the title.
Our big hope is that Gordon's performances in the Champions League will finally translate into the Premier League. So far this season the England winger has failed to follow up his top Champions League performances with anything similar in the following Premier League game.
If ever we needed the likes of Gordon to step up, it's on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium. The confidence Gordon picked up from his game on Wednesday surely has to help him be his best self on Saturday.
