LONDON — Newcastle United ended their 70-year wait for a domestic trophy on Sunday at Wembley as Liverpool followed last week’s UEFA Champions League round-of-16 exit with a dismal Carabao Cup final performance in a 2-1 defeat against Eddie Howe’s team.
Boyhood Newcastle supporter Dan Burn put his team ahead with a stunning long-range header on 45 minutes before Alexander Isak doubled their lead from close range seven minutes into the second half. Federico Chiesa scored a stoppage-time consolation goal for Liverpool.
Having lost to Manchester United in the 2023 Carabao Cup final, Newcastle were determined and dominant throughout this game, and their win secured a first domestic cup since the 1955 FA Cup. The win also ensures that Howe is the first English manager to win a major trophy since Harry Redknapp guided Portsmouth to FA Cup glory in 2008.
Five days after crashing out of the Champions League in a penalty shootout against Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield, Liverpool never looked like retaining the trophy they won under Jürgen Klopp last season, and Arne Slot’s team now have just the Premier League title to play for this term. — Mark Ogden
Newcastle end 70-year domestic trophy drought
Newcastle are no longer the most unsuccessful big club in world football after ending their 70-year domestic trophy drought by beating holders Liverpool in a dominant display at Wembley. Although Newcastle won the now-defunct Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by beating Hungarian team Újpest Dozsa in 1969, the club’s supporters have always regarded the 1955 FA Cup final win against Manchester City as their last major trophy.
No other major club in world football has gone so long without winning a cup or league, and Newcastle had lost five major finals and twice finished Premier League runners-up since that 1955 success. The importance of the win was highlighted by the reaction of Newcastle players whenever they won a tackle or made a crucial clearance, with midfielders Joelinton and Bruno Guimarães — both outstanding in the game — repeatedly urging the supporters to roar them on even more loudly.
With Newcastle now owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, the club has the financial might to build on this success in a similar fashion to the growth of Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City and Qatar-backed Paris Saint-Germain. Having waited so long for a trophy, though, the joy and relief of ending the barren run will unlikely be topped by anything that might now follow. — Ogden
Once-unstoppable Liverpool suddenly look vulnerable
It was fitting that the last kick before the interval on Sunday was an unconvincing shank wide from Diogo Jota. It was Liverpool’s first shot of the match and summed up their abject first-half display against Howe’s side.
It was only five days ago that Liverpool contested a grueling 120 minutes against PSG in the Champions League, and it showed against a Newcastle team that admirably shouldered the hopes and dreams of an entire city at Wembley.
Make no mistake, it has still been an extraordinary campaign for Liverpool and — barring a monumental collapse — they will get their just reward in the guise of the Premier League trophy in a couple of months’ time, but despite Slot’s prematch insistence that his team needed no extra motivation after their European exit, Liverpool looked jaded in Sunday’s showpiece fixture.
It is a defeat that will be given ample time to fester, with 17 days to go before the Reds’ next outing against Everton in the Premier League. Slot must hope the next fortnight offers his players the chance to reset, or else what looked set to be a serene end to the campaign runs the risk of becoming a slog. — Beth Lindop
Burn lives every Newcastle fan’s dream
Burn was already living the dream as a Newcastle player before scoring one of the best headed goals you will ever see to put his team on course for Carabao Cup glory. The 32-year-old defender, a lifelong Newcastle fan born just 15 miles away in Blyth, earned his first England call-up last week and he added another chapter to his remarkable story by scoring against Liverpool.
Burn’s story is a classic tale of perseverance and belief. He was released by Fulham at the end of the 2015-16 season and had to drop into the Championship with Wigan to relaunch his career. Prior to that, he worked in a supermarket as a teenager when it seemed he would not make it as a professional.
When he signed for Newcastle from Brighton & Hove Albion as one of Howe’s first signings as manager in January 2022, even Burn expected to be a short-term solution before the club’s Saudi Arabian owners spent big on star signings. But Burn, just like forward-turned-midfielder Joelinton, has been transformed by Howe’s coaching and management, and the two players were outstanding against Liverpool.
Burn’s unique story, though, is that he is the fan on the pitch, the player who is doing what every supporter would dream to do. So his goal and the magnitude of it for Newcastle means that he will probably end up with a statue outside St. James’ Park.
It’ll need to be a big one, however, with Burn standing tall at 6-foot-7. — Ogden
Salah’s form fading at the worst possible moment
As the Newcastle players wheeled away to celebrate Isak’s second-half strike, Mohamed Salah trudged, head down, toward the center circle.
The Egypt international has so often been Liverpool’s talisman this season, having registered a mightily impressive 32 goals and 22 assists in all competitions. However, on Sunday at Wembley, Salah’s golden touch appeared to desert him.
It marked the continuation of a difficult week for the forward, who was in tears after Liverpool’s agonizing Champions League exit at the hands of PSG on Tuesday. Salah was the only Liverpool player to convert his penalty in the shootout at Anfield but, across the two legs against the Parisians, he struggled to make an impact.
It feels unfair to criticize Salah, whose individual brilliance has inspired what, in all likelihood, will still transpire to be a memorable Liverpool campaign. But it is hard to dispute the fact that his form has faded at the worst possible moment for Slot’s side.
Perhaps the ongoing uncertainty over his future is beginning to take its toll. Perhaps the fact that Salah is currently observing Ramadan, and therefore cannot take on refreshment until sunset, has contributed to his dip in effectiveness. Perhaps he is simply encountering the same fluctuations in form that befall many players over the course of the season.
For Liverpool, the biggest worry should be that nobody is stepping up to help lighten the load. On paper, Slot has one of the best strike forces in Europe at his disposal but, with Salah struggling, his team appear alarmingly blunt up top.
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It is an ominous look at what could lie ahead for the club if they fail to tie down their star forward to a new deal this summer. — Lindop
Isak becomes Newcastle legend, but can they keep him?
Isak took his goal tally against Liverpool to four goals in six games for Newcastle with the decisive strike at Wembley that put Howe’s team 2-0 ahead. The Sweden international, a club-record £63 million signing from Real Sociedad in August 2022, secured his place in Newcastle folklore by confirming the end of the club’s 70-year domestic trophy drought.
With proven goal scorers now so rare at the top level of the game, though, Isak’s goal against Liverpool will only make him a more sought-after target for the biggest teams this summer. Arsenal have a longstanding interest in the 25-year-old and Liverpool, with doubts over the future of Salah, have also been linked with the forward.
So how long can Newcastle hold on to their star striker with so many leading clubs casting envious glances at him?
Newcastle’s Carabao Cup win guarantees the club a place in next season’s Conference League, so they will at least have European football to tempt Isak to stay. And with wealthy Saudi Arabian owners, every effort will be made to keep him.
If any team wants him, though, it’s hard to imagine Newcastle letting Isak go for anything less than a £150 million transfer fee. — Ogden
Alexander-Arnold’s absence makes clear Liverpool’s right-back issue
When Trent Alexander-Arnold hobbled down the tunnel at Anfield on Tuesday, it immediately felt like the consequences of his injury could reach far beyond just the clash with PSG.
With deputies Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez also sidelined, it was Jarell Quansah who was given the nod at right-back against Newcastle. He did well against the French champions in midweek but, like most of his teammates, struggled to impose himself against Howe’s fired-up side.
Quansah was far from Liverpool’s worst performer at Wembley but, with Alexander-Arnold out of contract in the summer, the Reds’ right-back conundrum is one for which Slot may soon have to find a more long-term solution.
Bradley is a fantastic talent but, at 21, has only 23 Premier League appearances under his belt and has developed a worrying tendency for picking up minor knocks. Gomez also has a troubling injury record, while Quansah’s form this term has been erratic.
Should Alexander-Arnold leave his boyhood club on a free transfer at the end of the season, a new right-back will perhaps also need to be added to Slot’s growing summer shopping list. — Lindop
