Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle United
by Gene Sylvester
at Wembley Stadium

THE 65th League Cup Final saw the current champions Liverpool, bidding to retain the trophy and keep alive their hopes of a domestic double, come up against a Newcastle United team who had last lifted a domestic trophy in 1955.

And on an emotional day at Wembley, Eddie Howe’s men finally got their hands on that domestic trophy that everyone connected to the club had been waiting for, beating Liverpool 2-1 to lift the League Cup.

“I am so pleased for the players.” Beamed a Champagne drenched Howe following the game. “The fans have given us great support home and away and supported us in their thousands today. I am so happy for them too.”

The opening exchanges of the game were dominated by the Toon Army, despite there not being any real clear cut chances for either side. The men in black and white physically imposed themselves on a Liverpool team who looked like they were possibly feeling the effects of the 120 minutes expended on Tuesday night in the Champions League.

It was a 45th-minute set-piece from Newcastle that opened the scoring and man of the moment Dan Burn, most likely still on a high after receiving his first England call up only 48 hours before, rose highest to power home his header following a Kieran Trippier back post corner.

The Newcastle boss spoke proudly of the headed goal after the game: “We have been working on those corners tirelessly for two weeks with mixed success in training, and he’s delivered one. Dan’s got so much to do from that distance. It’s so befitting that it was him [Dan Burn] as well.”

Reds boss Arne Slot was equally impressed with Burn’s header. “I have never seen someone header from such a distance into the goal.”

Newcastle danger man Alexander Isak thought he had doubled his side’s lead just after half-time but his close range effort was ruled out for offside. However, two minutes later, the Swedish striker did double the Geordie’s lead.

Tino Livramento combined well with Harvey Barnes down the Newcastle left before whipping in a cross to the back-post that Jacob Murphy was able to nod back down across goal to Isak, who fired home low and hard from 12 yards out.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot rang the changes as time ran out and 57th minute substitute Curtis Jones almost had an immediate impact a minute after coming on, but was only able to fire his effort from the edge of the box straight at Nick Pope in the Newcastle goal who was able to tip the effort over the bar.

Another substitute Federico Chiesa was able to pull a goal back in injury time following a through ball from fellow substitute Harvey Elliott, but it was too little to late for Liverpool as Newcastle United were crowned League Cup Champions 2025.

Slot spoke after the game about where he felt the game was won and lost.

“The game went exactly how they wanted it to,” bemoaned Slot. “It was a fight with a lot of duels. We would lose nine out of 10 games like this against them as they are very strong.”

Howe was expectedly in a celebratory mood following his team’s momentous victory and suggested that his players, fans and everyone connected to the club should enjoy the moment.

The Newcastle boss said: ”I will be encouraging a huge celebration with our supporters and everyone that has waited so long for this. This was a victory for everyone and for the city.”