Dan Burn and Alexander Isak ended 70 years of hurt as they fired Newcastle to League Cup final victory over Liverpool on Sunday.
Local boy Burn headed the Magpies into the lead on the stroke of half-time, and Isak’s 23rd goal of the season seven minutes after the restart secured a first domestic trophy since the 1955 FA Cup despite substitute Federico Chiesa’s late strike.
Newcastle, whose last piece of silverware was the 1969 Inter Cities Fairs Cup, were good value for their 2-1 win at Wembley on an afternoon when 10-times winners Liverpool looked below par.
Eddie Howe’s men took full advantage in front of a crowd of 88,513 as he became the first English manager to win a domestic trophy since Harry Redknapp in 2008.
Bruno Guimaraes described Newcastle’s Cup win as “one of the best days” of his life.
“It’s a lot for these fans, they deserve everything,” the Brazil midfielder told Sky Sports.
“When I first came here I wanted to put my name in the club’s history and that’s it. We can now say we are the champions again, these fans deserve everything. This is one of the best days of my life.
“I don’t have the words, one of the best days of my life. They deserve it.
“For them this is like the World Cup. People have not seen Newcastle as champions. We are here to make history and I’m very happy. We deserve this, this is unbelievable.”
Sandro Tonali curled an early right-foot shot just wide of Caoimhin Kelleher’s left post after Harvey Barnes, in for the suspended Anthony Gordon, and Isak had combined to set him up.
Kelleher smothered Bruno Guimaraes’ effort from close range after Burn had headed down the resulting corner and Konate made a vital interception to deny Isak a clear run at goal.
Nick Pope had to race from his line to prevent Luis Diaz getting to Mohamed Salah’s 37th-minute ball over the top but the opening goal finally arrived at the other end as the first half ticked into stoppage time.
The unmarked Burn met Trippier’s corner with a powerful header, having earlier in the week received his first England call-up at the age of 32.
Diogo Jota stabbed wide from Diaz’s knockdown as the whistle approached, but it was Newcastle who went in at the break with the advantage.
It took a fine covering tackle from Joelinton to prevent Diaz running on to Jota’s cutback, after Virgil van Dijk had surged upfield and played him through.
Isak had the ball in the net with 51 minutes gone, although from an offside position after Liverpool had once again failed to deal adequately with a Trippier corner.
However, he repeated the feat legally seconds later when Murphy turned Tino Livramento’s cross back across goal, beating Kelleher with relish.
Arne Slot replaced Konate and Jota with Curtis Jones and Darwin Nunez as he sought a way back into the game and Jones might have dragged his side back into it within two minutes of his arrival but for a stunning reaction save from Pope.
Kelleher had to be equally resilient to repel Isak’s close-range effort from Barnes’ volleyed cross in an increasingly open affair.
Although Chiesa pulled one back in stoppage time, the Magpies held on to beat the Reds for the first time in 18 attempts.
(dpa/NAN)
