The Magpies will be hoping to capitalise on a chink in their opponents’ armour after Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday night. Arne Slot’s side bowed out of Europe’s premier club competition as they fell to a penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, with the away side winning the second leg tie 1-0 thanks to Ousmane Dembele’s 12-minute strike.
But Newcastle will be acutely aware that Liverpool’s attention is now focused on defending their Carabao Cup trophy on Sunday (March 16) at Wembley Stadium. The team are firmly in control of the Premier League – sitting on top of the table and a 20th Premier League title in all but wrapped up for the club.
The Carabao Cup final is the other remaining chance of silverware for Liverpool following their FA Cup shock defeat at the hands of Plymouth Argyle. Despite Tuesday’s Champions League shootout loss on penalties to Paris St-Germain, Reds manager Slot described the match as “the best game of football I’ve been involved in.”
Sunday offers Slot the opportunity to gain the first trophy for Liverpool under his tenure, and it seems the Dutchman’s players are still ready to put up a fight for their chance to claim some silverware, with three players sending a warning to their next opponents. Speaking after the defeat to PSG, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said: “If we would play with the same quality and intensity that we did in regular time then it’s going to be a beautiful game.
(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
“But the focus will be on recovery because everyone has to do that in order to be at their best on the weekend against a very good Newcastle, in my opinion, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Scotland left-back Andy Robertson told the BBC that the team’s focus has turned to Newcastle and that the Reds are ready to ‘bounce back’. He said: “It wasn’t meant to be (PSG result) and we need to dust ourselves down. We always bounce back, there’s a lot of tired legs in there. Cup finals – we enjoy them, and that’s the biggest game.”
The side’s goalkeeper Alisson Becker said Liverpool will not dwell on their Champions League exit and now have Sunday’s Carabao Cup final in mind. He said: “It’s tough to take it because we know we could do more but we have no time to complain too much – we have a final to play at the weekend and (need to) still keep on going in the Premier League.”
Looking ahead to the immediate challenge of a final against Newcastle, Alisson added: “We have to use the time to recover. We are glad that we have enough time to do that because we know it’s going to be a tough match as well, (against) a tough opponent. We are going to have to work really hard as a team to win the trophy and we are here for that: to win all the trophies that we can.”
Liverpool were dealt a double injury blow in their loss against PSG with two players reported as doubtful after limping off in the Champions League loss. Trent Alexander-Arnold was brought off in the second half of regular time at Anfield. The 26-year-old landed awkwardly on his right ankle as he lunged into a tackle and it didn’t look good.
In the 111th minute – with penalties looking likely – Liverpool were dealt another concern as Ibrahima Konate went down unchallenged. It is currently unclear whether either Alexander-Arnold or Konate are going to be unavailable for the Carabao Cup final.
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