Newcastle United 2 Manchester City 1

A night that had threatened to degenerate into a furious protest against Mike Ashley’s ownership instead evolved into a remarkable outpouring of joy. There are still plenty of long-term problems plaguing Newcastle, but after a difficult few weeks, this was a welcome reminder of what the football club is still capable of.

For once, it is Manchester City with the problems, with last night’s result likely to prove terminal to the reigning champions’ hopes of defending their title. Forget Istanbul – this might well prove to be Rafael Benitez’s greatest ever gift to Liverpool.

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From a Newcastle perspective, it bolstered survival hopes and lifted the Magpies to 14th position in the table. More importantly, it also rewrote the narrative of a club in terminal decline. Through a combination of effort, courage and no little skill, the Magpies outperformed one of the best teams in Europe.

Their success was all the more remarkable because of the disastrousness of their start. Trailing to Sergio Aguero’s opener after just 25 seconds, Newcastle were staring down the barrel of an embarrassment. Instead, they fashioned a victory that was remarkable as it was ultimately deserved.

Their defence neutered City’s galaxy of attacking stars and gradually, as the second half wore on, Newcastle sensed a famous result was there for the taking. Salomon Rondon levelled things with a slick first-time finish, and when Fernandinho sent Sean Longstaff tumbling to the floor with 12 minutes left, Matt Ritchie had the opportunity to be a hero. He was not found wanting, drilling home from the penalty spot to complete a notable double after he also scored the winner against Manchester United last season.

Miguel Almiron, jetting into Tyneside later today, must be wondering what all the fuss is about. Having spent the whole of January refusing to cave in to Atlanta United’s demands for the Paraguayan midfielder, Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley finally relented yesterday morning and met the MLS side’s asking price.

Whether they were motivated by an acknowledgement of the very real threat of relegation or the equally alarming prospect of Benitez walking away at the end of the season does not really matter. Almiron’s arrival will finally expunge Michael Owen’s name from the record books and remove a stain that has blighted Newcastle for far too long.

Whether Almiron can outperform Owen on the pitch remains to be seen, although it should not be hard. On last night’s evidence, eclipsing Longstaff and Isaac Hayden might be much more difficult.

Not, however, that a victory looked to be on the cards 25 seconds in. In most of their previous matches against top-six teams this season, Benitez’s side have displayed some obdurate resistance before eventually being broken down. This time around, their stubbornness subsided after just 25 seconds.

Raheem Sterling lobbed a harmless-looking cross towards the back post, but Martin Dubravka got himself into an awful position as he appeared to become transfixed by the flight of the ball close to the corner of his own six-yard box.

David Silva beat him to it with a stooping header back infield, and as three defenders stood and watched, Aguero swivelled to fire home. It was Aguero’s 15th goal in 13 Premier League matches against Newcastle, more than any player has scored against an opponent for a single club in the competition’s history.

Goal number 16 should have arrived 16 minutes later, but while Aguero showed off his razor-sharp reactions as he flicked home Kevin de Bruyne’s quick free-kick at the front post, his team-mate was penalised for taking the set-piece before referee Paul Tierney had blown his whistle.

De Bruyne was booked for his quick thinking, but while he was quick to penalise de Bruyne in the first half, Tierney was much more lenient when the Belgian clipped Matt Ritchie after the interval. Having already been booked, de Bruyne should have been dismissed for two yellow cards.

As it was, he remained on the field, although his hurried departure shortly after his second-half foul proved to be the catalyst for City’s unexpected capitulation. Prior to that, his eye-of-the-needle through balls had caused Newcastle problems.

To their credit, though, the hosts held firm, with Fabian Schar superb at the heart of a back five, and having shrugged off the disappointment of their first-minute concession, the Magpies successfully set about trying to fashion a route back into the game.

It would be stretching it to claim they had Manchester City’s players on the back foot initially, but there were times when Ayoze Perez and Christian Atsu broke forward, with Rondon tying up Aymeric Laporte ahead of them, when the hosts posed a genuine threat.

Perez flashed a 13th-minute drive wide of the post after Danilo’s heavy touch invited him to steal possession, and Atsu’s deflected strike looped narrowly over the crossbar midway through the first half after Rondon laid the ball off to him. Ederson reached the interval without having being called into serious action, but as tends to be the case when Benitez sets up his side against top-quality opposition, Newcastle’s work rate and organisation could not be faulted.

City came close to doubling their lead on the stroke of half-time - Florian Lejeune blocked Silva’s goal-bound header after Leroy Sane nodded Danilo’s cross across goal – but Newcastle were able to cling on.

Their defiance continued in the second half, largely thanks to an excellent save from Dubravka shortly before the hour mark.

De Bruyne found Silva in a pocket of space inside the area, but while the Spaniard swivelled to fire in a fiercely-hit shot, Dubravka reacted sharply to keep the ball out.

It felt like an important moment, and the true significance of the save became apparent eight minutes later. With their first effort on target, Newcastle levelled.

Ritchie’s left-wing cross was only half-cleared, and Hayden did well to win a header to propel the ball back into the box. Rondon slid in to meet it, and as he dropped to the ground, the Venezuelan volleyed home a first-time finish. The Gallowgate End, inhaling its collective breath in front of him, erupted.

Twelve minutes later, and the noise ringing around St James’ Park was even more cacophonous. If being on level terms with Manchester City was barely believable, leading 2-1 was the stuff of dreams.

There had been sporadic signs of sloppiness in the City defence all night, and as he received the ball inside his own area, Ferdinandho erred by allowing it to roll across him. He was clearly unaware that Longstaff was on his shoulder, and as the Newcastle midfielder nicked the ball, he sent him crashing to the ground.

Tierney pointed to the spot, and after a lengthy delay as Ederson suddenly required medical treatment, Ritchie held his nerve to drill the ball to the goalkeeper’s left.