Newcastle United supporters sent out an early statement of intent ahead of the Carabao Cup Final clash with Liverpool.
The noise coming from the stands was deafening as the Magpies’ players were put through their paces ahead of kick-off. The atmosphere was ramped up by Steve Furnell (Radio DJ) and Newcastle’s stadium announcer Rob Byron with half-an-hour to go, reading out Eddie Howe’s starting XI ahead of the game.
There were no surprises with the team selection, though Nick Pope was given the nod in between the sticks despite Martin Dubravka’s fine form in recent weeks.
Newcastle legends Shay Given and Les Ferdinand joined Mark Chapman on punditry duty for ITV and Sky Sports standing on the middle of the pitch ahead of kick-off to analyse the game.
The trio could hardly hear one another speak as a rendition of ‘We are the Geordies, the Geordie boot boys’ bellowed from the stands.
“People talk about this Liverpool three but Tonali, Guimaraes and…Tonali…Joelinton sorry,” Given said before taking a moment to compose himself amid the noise. “Those three against the Liverpool three, today, is where I think the game will be won or lost.
“If Newcastle can dominate midfield then they have got a great chance.”
Chapman said: “I would have helped you but I can’t hear you.”
Newcastle supporters then drowned out Liverpool’s rendition of ‘You’ll never walk alone’ ahead of kick-off.
Front-of-shirt sponsors Sela provided 32,000 black and white scarves for supporters at Wembley Stadium, helping contribute to a brilliant atmosphere.
Speaking ahead of kick-off Howe said: “I think we’ve tried to be like that with our mentality throughout our time here. We just want to do our supporters proud with our performance and we know what’s at stake.
“The players are well aware of the size of the game today so I’m not going to egg it up.”
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