Shatskikh inflicts maximum pain on Newcastle

Dynamo Kiev 2 Newcastle United

The scoreboard at the Republican stadium is one of the few that displays the temperature, and the question last night was whether Newcastle United had been knocked out cold on their return to the Champions' League.

Certainly, Sir Bobby Robson's side who limped back to Tyneside this morning are wounded, probably more deeply than the gash on Alan Shearer's head which required four stitches. After a mauling from what was supposed to be an under strength Dynamo Kiev, many will wonder how quickly they can recover, if at all.

Before kick-off Kieron Dyer drew comparisons between Robson's young team and the inexperienced Leeds side which reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 2001. David O'Leary's squad fought back from a savage beating in their opening game against Barcelona in the Nou Camp, but Robson will have some rapid rearranging to do before Saturday's derby with Sunderland, let alone Tuesday's encounter with Feyenoord which may decide Newcastle's fate in this competition.

With its vast gloomy neo-Stalinist buildings and lack of street lighting, Kiev resembles the Gotham City Tim Burton depicted in his dark Batman films; while the enormous Republican, half-filled with those who paid 60 times less for their seats than they would be charged for the return fixture at St James' Park, swallowed Newcastle's limited ambitions.

Faced with a task of managing a side drained of form and confidence, Robson unveiled a system designed not to lose, tactics which held good for all of 16 minutes until Maksim Shatskikh scored, after which they unravelled completely.

Aaron Hughes was shifted to man mark the Romanian international, Florian Cernat, while Andy Griffin, who had not started a match in nearly a year, took his place at right-back. Nolberto Solano and Laurent Robert, the powerhouses of last season's hugely entertaining team, were on the bench. By the time they came on to replace Hughes, who failed to deal with Cernat in the way he had smothered Roma's Francesco Totti in the Olympic stadium three years before, the game was beyond recall. Once Hughes left the field, Cernat ran wild.

The game developed in exactly the opposite way to the pattern Robson expected. Those who imagined Newcastle had been lucky to lose only 2-0 would have been surprised to discover they actually enjoyed more possession. "We thought we would suck them in and counter-attack with the pace of Dyer and Bellamy,'' Robson reflected. "But we could not unlock their defensive door.''

Newcastle's own over-stretched back four, in which Olivier Bernard was the weakest link, was burst open by a world-class piece of finishing from Shatskikh. The 24-year-old is regarded by many as the natural successor to Andrei Shevchenko, whose goals powered Dynamo to the semi-finals of the European Cup. It is, however, questionable whether even Shevchenko has scored a better goal in the Champions' League than the shot from Shatskikh, aimed from 20 yards, which just scraped the inside of Shay Given's post as it flew in.

Robson claimed Newcastle were never outclassed in Ukraine but Kiev had two reasonable claims for a penalty disallowed; Shatskikh had a goal in each half disallowed for offside; and just before the interval Cernat's shot curled past Given's right-hand post. Newcastle's attempts to claw their way back into the match were smothered by Kiev's back four and extinguished by another counterattack, which saw Alexander Khatskevich head home a shot from Alexander Melashchenko which Given could only beat out.

With only Hugo Viana threatening, the question was whether Kiev's nerve would hold. Three years ago, they might have met Manchester United in the European Cup final had they not thrown away a 3-1 lead against Bayern Munich while in 1997 they had similarly outplayed Newcastle but been undone by two late goals fromJohn Beresford. This time, however, there was to be no unlikely rescue, just the sobering reality produced by leaving an empty stadium in the Ukraine at half past midnight.

Dynamo Kiev (4-3-1-2): Reva; Peev (Gavrancic 75), Sablic, Ghioane, Nesmachniy; Husin, Leko, Khatskevich; Cernat; Leandro (Melashchenko 56), Shatskikh. Substitutes not used: El Kaddouri, Diogo, Bodnar, Skoba, Khudzhamov (gk).

Newcastle United (4-1-3-2): Given; Griffin, O'Brien, Dabizas, Bernard (Robert 68); Hughes (Solano 68); Dyer, Speed, Viana; Bellamy, Shearer (Ameobi 79). Substitutes not used: Jenas, Bramble, LuaLua, Harper (gk).

Referee: E Gonzalez Iturralde (Spain).