Olayiwola Matthew
Newcastle United have won the English Football League (EFL) cup following a well-deserved 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
The Geordies were surprisingly sharper than Liverpool, runaway English Premier League (EPL) leaders, and scored once in each half through Dan Burn and Alexander Isak to deny Liverpool a successful defence of a cup they won last season. Federico Chiesa scored Liverpool’s only goal.
The triumph secured Newcastle United’s first trophy in 56 years. The previous trophy won by the club was the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
The EFL triumph is also the club’s first domestic success since the 1955 FA Cup.
Liverpool, participating in their 15th final in the competition, brought a near-full armoury but rested Allison Becker for Caoimhin Kelleher, while Jarrell Qansah replaced injured Trent Alexander-Arnold at right back.
It was the same for Newcastle, missing only banned Anthony Gordon who Harvey Barnes replaced.
The Magpies, losing finalists in 2023, tried their luck from distance early on but Jacob Murphy shot high and wide while Sandro Tonali narrowly missed the far corner.
Newcastle continued to push for the opener but were denied by Andy Robertson’s double block before Kelleher saved Burn’s header from the resulting corner kick.
Burn, recently called into the England team, eventually put Newcastle ahead in first half added time, powering home a precise header into the bottom corner for 1-0 to Eddie Howe’s side. This jolted Liverpool to life but Diogo Jota blazed wide from four yards out as Newcastle held on to their one-goal lead at half-time.
Newcastle began the second half in attack and scored through Isak who slotted in from a rebound but VAR chalked the goal off.
The Swedish striker eventually made it 2-0 moments later on 54 minutes when he slotted Murphy’s knockdown into the bottom corner to send their supporters into celebration mode.
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Liverpool made a couple of substitutions, with Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones coming on. The latter had the Reds’ first shot, but Nick Pope produced an excellent stop to keep the scoreline.
Newcastle responded on the counter, with Kelleher denying Isak with a point-blank save while Murphy’s low drive narrowly missed the bottom corner as Liverpool were not allowed a foothold on the game.
A late Liverpool onslaught faced Newcastle, and Chiesa slotted home in added time to give the Reds a lifeline at 2-1. However, Newcastle held on to claim a precious win that ended a run of five Cup final defeats, giving the Geordies a first victory over Liverpool in 18 attempts.
Howe also became the first English coach to win a major trophy in 17 years, since Harry Redknapp guided Portsmouth to FA Cup glory in 2008.