Owen Gallacher, Victor Fernández and Callum Roberts were on target against the Dutch outfit, but the Magpies just fell short of the three-goal margin of victory required to make sure of their progression to the quarter finals.

Instead, it is Liverpool who top the competition’s Group A, but United will join the Reds in the next round should the result in one of the group stage’s two remaining games go their way.

PSV sprayed the ball about with confidence early on, but it was Newcastle who took the lead midway through the first half. Roberts picked out Fernández wide on the left, and the Spaniard’s low cross was swept home by Gallacher deep inside the penalty area.

Goalmouth action was at a premium leading up to the break. Gallacher did briefly threaten a second for United, but Jordan Teze produced a crucial sliding challenge.

Just two minutes into the second half, though, United doubled their advantage, as Fernández’s free kick from deep on the left flank sailed over everyone – including visiting stopper Yanick van Osch – and dropped over the line via the far post.

Newcastle started to dominate. Mo Sangare’s fine centre evaded Gallacher by a fraction, before Roberts’ swerving set-piece caused mayhem in the PSV area. The ball bounced onto the woodwork and very nearly crossed the line, before van Osch somehow managed to mop up under considerable pressure.

Two minutes later, Gallacher managed to get his head to Fernández’s half-cleared cross, but the ball clipped the crossbar before dropping onto the roof of the net.

Out of nothing, however, the visitors were afforded a route back into the game. The Magpies squandered possession on the edge of their own penalty area, and Ramon Pascal Lundqvist coolly found the far corner to halve the deficit.

The game then became increasingly fragmented. Roberts was felled twice in quick succession, with two PSV players entering the book. Yasin Ben El-Mhanni came close with the second free kick, but van Osch was able to parry.

Then, with just over ten minutes to play, Roberts put the outcome beyond doubt, robbing Derrick Luckassen 20 yards out before lifting the ball over the onrushing van Osch in superb fashion.

That was not the last of the action, though. Roberts himself saw yellow, before a firm Sangare challenge got the Boeren animated. Dirk Abels then upended Fernández as the Magpies looked to break, while Jamie Sterry came close to notching a significant fourth after gathering Macaulay Gillesphey’s pass.

Sterry was booked just 60 seconds later, and in the dying embers, the United full back was the victim of a stamp by PSV substitute Marcel Ritzmaier, who was promptly given his marching orders as the game ended in bad-tempered fashion.