Anthony Gordon: Newcastle striker breaks Alan Shearer’s record

In fact, Karabakh played for Gordon.

This team had previously drawn against Chelsea and defeated Benfica, Eintracht Frankfurt and Copenhagen.

But seeing the speedy Gordon playing more forward than Voltimad seemed to catch Qarabag a little cold.

By the time they finally redeemed themselves, falling deeper in the second half, the damage had been done, as Match of the Day expert Thomas Hitzlsberger pointed out.

He said: “I must say that I was surprised at how high Qarabağ’s defense was, and how they maintained a high line in the first half when Newcastle’s goals came in.”

“I was thinking: ‘Aren’t they watching Newcastle and their last games?’ Why did they allow so much space to Gordon, who was brilliant all evening?”

Gordon has impressed in such a role away from home in recent weeks, opening the scoring at Anfield last month and setting up Jacob Ramsey’s winning goal against Tottenham last week.

He gives Eddie Howe’s side something different in the middle with his movement and pace, and the Azerbaijan Premier League champions have been unable to cope.

“I thought he was really good in that position,” Howe said. He added: “Looking at the Liverpool game, where I thought he was excellent, he is scoring.

“He showed that he wants to play there and so he has the quality to play there. His pressure today was unbelievable for us. It gave us the platform to rebuild his work.”

“Of course he scored all four goals and he will be in the headlines of course, but his all-round game was really strong.”