Newcastle stun Liverpool in League Cup final to end 56-year trophy drought

Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes, left, and Joelinton pose with the trophy after profitable the EFL Cup final soccer match between Liverpool and Newcastle at Wembley Stadium in London, Sunday, March 16, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Newcastle ended their 56-year trophy drought in beautiful model as Dan Burn and Alexander Isak sealed a 2-1 win in opposition to Liverpool in the League Cup final on Sunday (March 16, 2025).

Eddie Howe’s facet made historical past at Wembley with an excellent show that left the runaway Premier League leaders shell-shocked.

Burn put Newcastle forward late in the primary half and Isak’s twenty seventh purpose in all competitions doubled their lead after the interval.

Federico Chiesa received one again in the closing seconds, however Newcastle held on for his or her first main silverware for the reason that 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

That success in the predecessor to the Europa League is a relic of a bygone period, however this long-awaited triumph shall be perpetually etched in the recollections of the Newcastle followers who turned one half of Wembley right into a roiling sea of black and white with their ecstatic celebrations.

It was additionally Newcastle’s first main home prize relationship again 70 years to the 1955 FA Cup.

Since the Magpies lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, 30 completely different English groups had received silverware, whereas Liverpool had clinched 38 main trophies in that point.

But after shedding the 2023 League Cup final in opposition to Manchester United, Howe’s crew returned to Wembley and set the document straight finally.

“We were well aware of the history and we wanted to do the club proud. We wanted to score, we wanted to perform and we wanted to win,” Howe stated.

“We are breaking new ground. I thought we were magnificent today.”

Newcastle had endured 5 relegations to the second tier since their final trophy, with membership legends like Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne and Malcolm MacDonald failing to win silverware in their time on Tyneside.

Aside from a short interval when Kevin Keegan’s self-styled “entertainers” challenged for the title in the Nineties, Newcastle have endured many years of underachievement and self-inflicted wounds that rendered them a laughing inventory for lengthy intervals.

All that modified in 2021 when a Saudi-backed consortium accomplished a takeover from unpopular proprietor Mike Ashley and shortly employed Howe as their supervisor.

Thanks to Howe’s astute management and the Saudi monetary backing, Newcastle have been reworked from relegation candidates to silverware winners.

The defeat was one other painful blow for Liverpool simply days after their Champions League final 16 exit on penalties in opposition to Paris Saint-Germain.

But regardless of failing to win their first trophy below boss Arne Slot, Liverpool nonetheless sit 12 factors clear on the prime of the Premier League, inside touching distance of a record-equalling twentieth English title.

“It’s a very disappointing result. The game went the way Newcastle wanted it. They deserved to win. We were out-played in their style. They won more aerial duels than us,” Slot stated.

History for Newcastle

Liverpool are 23 factors forward of sixth-placed Newcastle in the league and hadn’t misplaced to them for 17 video games relationship again to 2015.

But Howe’s males had been in no temper to be cowed by previous failures

Newcastle followers unveiled a banner earlier than kick-off urging their crew to “write your name in the history books”.

They rose to the problem in spectacular style, snapping into tackles and counter-attacking with objective, whereas Liverpool had been sluggish and sloppy in possession.

Newcastle’s want and drive was clear to see when Joelinton tracked again from midfield to cease Jarell Quansah in his tracks and celebrated with a fist-pumping roar.

Despite almost being caught out by Burn’s aerial prowess earlier in the sport, Liverpool failed to heed the warning because the towering centre-back put Newcastle forward in the forty fifth minute.

Bizarrely left unmarked, with solely the diminutive Alex Mac Allister anyplace close to him, Burn was allowed to rise unchallenged to meet Kieran Tripper’s nook as he thumped a robust header into far nook from 12 yards.

Burn’s purpose — Newcastle’s first in a cup final since 1976 — capped an unbelievable week for the journeyman centre-back, who obtained his first England call-up on Friday.

With Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah fully nameless, the torpid Reds had no reply as Isak put Newcastle into dreamland after 52 minutes.

Newcastle dominated in the air once more as Jacob Murphy met Tino Livramento’s cross with a header that discovered Isak, who drilled an excellent first-time end previous Caoimhin Kelleher from 10 yards.

Chiesa’s stoppage-time strike arrange an anxious finale, however good issues comes to those that wait.

And all throughout Wembley, Newcastle gamers and followers celebrated with abandon as a celebration over half a century in the making received into full swing.