Newcastle’s Champions League clash at Dortmund HALTED as home fans throw tennis balls, gold bars and rubbish onto pitch

NEWCASTLE’S Champions League clash at Borussia Dortmund was momentarily delayed after home fans threw tennis balls and fake bars of gold onto the pitch.

The match was stopped shortly after half time for the pitch to be cleared.

Supporters threw fake gold bars onto the pitchRex

AP

Nico Schlotterbeck helps clean the pitch[/caption]

Getty

Gregor Kobel clears his penalty area[/caption]

Getty

Dortmund fans held a defiant banner[/caption]

Dortmund fans were believed to be protesting against reforms to the Champions League format next season, and the corrupting effect of money in football more broadly.

A banner in the stands read: “You don’t care about the sport – all you care about is money.”

Players helped to get the game going again as quickly as possible by clearing rubbish and fake gold bars from the pitch.

But as the game continued, there was still rubbish on the pitch at the end Dortmund were attacking.

A document entitled Reclaim the Game laid out a section of Dortmund fans’ grievances online.

It features the tagline: “Football for millions of fans, not for billions of Euros!”

Dortmund led 1-0 at the time of the protest.

After peppering Nick Pope‘s goal for much of the first half, it was Niclas Fullkrug who gave the home side the lead with a close range finish.

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Newcastle and Dortmund are both scrapping to get out of a competitive Group E.

They went into tonight’s match level on four points after three games.

AC Milan are set to host Paris Saint-Germain later this evening in the group’s other match.

Reuters

Fans lobbed fake gold bars onto the pitch[/caption]