Anthony Gordon stole the show with four goals as Newcastle United demolished Qarabag 6-1 in the first leg of their Champions League play-off in Baku on Wednesday.
The English midfielder scored all four goals before half-time, with Malick Thiaw also on target before the interval. Jacob Murphy added a sixth after the break.
Qarabag’s Elvin Jafarguliyev netted a second-half goal, but it offered little consolation for the Azerbaijani side, whose defensive lapses were ruthlessly exploited by Newcastle.
Manager Eddie Howe praised his team’s performance, calling the first half “as good as we have played in a long time,” while noting the tie is not yet over.
Gordon now has 14 goals this season, 10 in the Champions League, surpassing Alan Shearer as Newcastle’s top European scorer in a single campaign.
Howe highlighted Gordon’s work off the ball, saying his pressing created chances, and added that the player could have scored even more in a dominant display.
Newcastle’s commanding win sets them up comfortably for the second leg at St James’ Park on February 24, with a last-16 clash against Barcelona or Chelsea in sight.
The club, fresh from ending a 70-year domestic trophy drought last season, eyes Champions League progress as a historic milestone for the team and its manager.
Gordon’s early goal came in the third minute, followed by Thiaw’s header in the eighth, while a penalty in the 32nd and a quick third strike secured a record-breaking first-half hat-trick.
Gordon’s four-goal haul was the fastest Champions League hat-trick by an English player and only the third by a Newcastle player in the competition, joining Shearer and Faustino Asprilla.
After Jafarguliyev’s goal, Murphy sealed the victory in the 72nd minute, marking his first Champions League goal and completing Newcastle’s memorable evening on the Caspian coast.
