Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hopes for a 'lot' more goals as Dan Burn rues Newcastle's '10 minutes of madness' at Stade Velodrome

In another act of self-destruction, Eddie Howe's Newcastle opened the scoring away from home, only to end up on the losing side. It was partially self-inflicted, with a terrible error from Nick Pope allowing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to score, but the veteran striker rolled back the years and struck again just minutes later. At 36, he plans to have plenty more goals in the twilight of his career.

Highlights: Aubameyang inspires Marseille fightback to down Magpies

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is hoping that, even at 36, he has plenty more goals left in him before he calls it a day.

He may be in the twilight of his career, but he is still firing in vital goals against top quality opposition, as evidenced by his UEFA Champions League brace to give Marseille a 2-1 win over Newcastle United.

The first goal came as a result of an error by goalkeeper Nick Pope on a wayward journey outside his box in an attempt to intercept Darryl Bakola's though-ball to the Gabonese striker.

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His second saw him cut ahead of Fabian Schar and meet Timothy Weah's cross with an excellent toe-poke finish for the 20th Champions League goal of his career.

It comes just a few days after the former Arsenal and Chelsea forward scored his 400th career goal in Marseille’s 5–1 demolition of Nice, and he hopes he has plenty more left to score.

"A lot, hopefully a lot," the forward said after the game on Tuesday night. "I feel great, even if I'm 36, but I'm enjoying [it]."

Newcastle's Harvey Barnes opened the scoring after six minutes. But it took just five minutes after the restart for Aubameyang to score two quick-fire goals at the Stade Velodrome, as the visitors became undone.

A double from Barnes had secured Newcastle a statement win against Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday and his opening goal in the south of France put the visitors in the driving seat.

But as the first half wore on, it became clear that Howe's men could not sustain their intensity, and the hosts crept into the game.

It took Newcastle all of 20 seconds for them to squander their lead in the second half, and once Marseille went in front, Roberto de Zerbi's side stood firm for the remainder of the match.

It was a vital win for the French side and only their second Champions League win of the season, taking them up to 19th in the table.

Not done yet? Aubameyang hopes to score 'a lot' more after Newcastle brace

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Burn laments sluggish second half start

Whilst it was a hugely important win for Marseille, Newcastle's troubles away from home continued as they suffered yet another defeat on the road.

It was a fourth successive away loss, and the third consecutive away match in which they scored first and lost.

Newcastle defender Dan Burn rued his side's poor start to the second half, and an inability to fight back into the game after being stung twice by Aubameyang.

Howe had made several changes from the side that beat City 2-1, leaving out Nick Woltemade and playing Anthony Gordon in the middle in a tweaked formation with three centre-backs.

A raft of substitutions from Howe failed to change anything as Marseille ran out deserved winners.

"Definitely frustrating," Burn said. "I thought we stuck to the game plan pretty well the whole game.

"[It was] 10, 15 minutes of madness at the start of the second half that cost us. So definitely disappointing to come to a team like this, a stadium like this and an atmosphere like this, and put all that in and not come away with anything. It's disappointing.

'Key moments cost us' - Burn and Howe react to 'disappointing' Marseille defeat

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"Mentally, we didn't start the second half as well as we wanted. Aubameyang, 36 years old but still sharp and can finish, he showed his quality today. When you go 2-1 down, and you've got to break them down away from home, it's tough.

"I think it was actually a pretty good performance, but we had chances that we should have scored and didn't capitalise. Then two goals, very disappointed."

Howe echoed Burn's thoughts on being satisfied with the performance, particularly in the first half, but admitted that two rapid strikes completely dented his side's concentration.

Eddie Howe applauds Newcastle fans after his team's defeat in Marseille

Image credit: Getty Images

"I thought the effort was good," Howe explained. "The start of the second half was a big one for us.

"The 15 minutes at the start of the second half cost us. I thought we handled the atmosphere in the first half and even towards the end of the game, I thought there were chances for us to score.

"I think the goals straight away after half-time changed the whole feeling around the stadium, the game itself, and it was just a lapse of concentration from our perspective. Then we maybe didn't react well enough to that. We conceded the second, and from there it was difficult."

Newcastle have the chance to rectify their poor away form when the travel to Everton on Saturday, while their next Champions League match on December 10 sees them visit Bayer Leverkusen, who stunned City with a 2-0 win in Manchester on Tuesday night.

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