It felt like buckle-up time at Wembley. One Geordie could barely watch as the fourth official’s board went up to signal there were still eight minutes of stoppage time to come in the Carabao Cup final. His nerves would soon be shredded.
Newcastle United may have been 2-0 up against Liverpool, and on the cusp of a first major domestic trophy in seven decades, but the Magpies were never going to make it easy for themselves, were they? Sure enough, Bruno Guimaraes attempted a Zidane-like pirouette to get away from Harvey Elliot inside the centre circle only for the Liverpool substitute to win the ball back and play a defence-splitting pass to send Federico Chiesa through. The Italy international duly slotted the ball past Nick Pope with just Liverpool’s second shot on target.
Although the goal was initially disallowed, a lengthy VAR check found that Chiesa was, in fact, onside. The goalscorer clenched his fist. Liverpool fans roared. Eddie Howe shook his head ruefully on the touchline.
“That was tough,” the Newcastle boss admitted. “Going through my head was loads of different things, like extra time, because any subs you make then carry on, but we always make it difficult for ourselves. It was never going to be a 2-0 where you’re relatively comfortable.”
Was history about to repeat itself? Comebacks are in Liverpool’s DNA and it was just last season that the Reds scored twice late on to turn a league game on its head at St James’ Park. Gary Neville, on co-commentary, even boomed: “Newcastle United are playing against the club that can come back against you . . . we’re in for a blockbuster three or four minutes.”
The Newcastle of old may have crumbled at Wembley. Not this side, though. Remarkably, Dan Burn even said he felt ‘comfortable for a lot of it’. Newcastle, after all, did not allow Liverpool to fashion another chance. That does not happen by chance as Newcastle assistant Graeme Jones explained.
“We saw it out incredibly,” he said. “All the work we did on game management we performed and it’s helped us win the cup.”
That work was evident from the restart in the 96th minute. Newcastle got the game back under way and launched the ball forward. It came straight back before Fabian Schar knocked the ball forward once more and Callum Wilson smartly won a throw-in from Andy Robertson down the right channel.
It gave Newcastle a chance to catch their breaths deep in Liverpool’s half. Emil Krafth took his time to walk over and tossed the ball to Bruno, who went on to win another throw-in right in the corner and pumped his fists in celebration as if he had just won the cup. The sting was being taken out of the game with Liverpool failing to get out of their half in the 90 seconds since the final got back under way.
(Image: Sky Sports)
Although Liverpool were eventually awarded a free-kick, after Wilson was flagged offside, Bruno gently nudged the ball away to prevent Caoimhin Kelleher from taking it quite so quickly. When Kelleher pumped it forward, Schar won the initial header and Dominik Szoboszlai could only knock the ball back as far as Sandro Tonali, who scampered away to feed Joe Willock. The substitute drove down the left and won a corner kick with the help of Tonali as the pair chest bumped to loud cheers.
In an effort to run down the clock some more, Tonali took his time redoing his laces and received a yellow card for his troubles. However, rather than panicking and taking the corner quickly, Tonali picked up the ball and gestured that Jarell Quansah was standing too near the quadrant, which ate up another few precious seconds. By the time the corner was finally taken, Tonali merely rolled the ball to Willock, who won another throw-in.
Liverpool could not get hold of the ball but when the holders won it back, in the 99th minute, and Szoboszlai picked out Mohamed Salah, the Reds star’s cross was headed away by Schar to Joelinton, who hooked it forward to send Wilson through. Rather than going for glory, as Wilson did against Nottingham Forest last month, the veteran went to the corner only for Szoboszlai to win it back and pass the ball to Elliot.
As Elliot looked to break clear, Joelinton cynically threw the Liverpool substitute to the ground and Bruno got across to the loose ball ahead of Cody Gakpo and it ricocheted all the way back to Nick Pope, who booted it out. One hundred and one exhausting minutes had been played, by then, but there was still time for Kelleher to launch the ball forward one last time. Virgil van Dijk won the initial header, but there was Joelinton to mop up before John Brooks finally blew his whistle for the last time. There was to be no final twist.
Newcastle United Carabao Cup WINNERS 2024/25
At last, Newcastle have their hands on silverware!
After an agonising 56-year wait, the Magpies’ amazing army of fans can celebrate watching their side lift a trophy after their Carabao Cup final win. And to celebrate, the Newcastle Chronicle have produced this souvenir special, marking the Wembley triumph.
It is packed full of reaction, analysis and quotes as well as amazing pictures from the day, and a centre-spread poster.
It is the perfect souvenir of an historic day for Newcastle.
Buy now and have it delivered directly to your door. Alternatively you can purchase in most supermarkets, high street retailers and independent newsagents in the North East from March 20, 2025.
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/what-streetwise-newcastle-united-after-31226247
