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NEWCASTLE ENDED THEIR 56-year trophy drought in stunning style as Dan Burn and Alexander Isak sealed a 2-1 win against Liverpool in the League Cup final on Sunday.
Eddie Howe’s side made history at Wembley with a superb display that left the runaway Premier League leaders shell-shocked.
Burn put Newcastle ahead late in the first half and Isak’s 27th goal in all competitions doubled their lead after the interval.
Federico Chiesa got one back in the closing seconds, but Newcastle held on for their first major silverware since the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
That success in the predecessor to the Europa League is a relic of a bygone era, but this long-awaited triumph will be forever etched in the memories of the Newcastle fans who turned one half of Wembley into a roiling sea of black and white with their ecstatic celebrations.
It was also Newcastle’s first major domestic prize dating back 70 years to the 1955 FA Cup.
Since the Magpies lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, 30 different English teams had won silverware, while Liverpool had clinched 38 major trophies in that time.
But after losing the 2023 League Cup final against Manchester United, Howe’s team returned to Wembley and set the record straight at last.
Newcastle had endured five relegations to the second tier since their last trophy, with club legends like Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne and Malcolm MacDonald failing to win silverware in their time on Tyneside.
Aside from a brief period when Kevin Keegan’s self-styled “entertainers” challenged for the title in the 1990s, Newcastle have endured decades of underachievement and self-inflicted wounds that rendered them a laughing stock for long periods.
All that changed in 2021 when a Saudi-backed consortium completed a takeover from unpopular owner Mike Ashley and quickly hired Howe as their manager.
Thanks to Howe’s astute leadership and the Saudi financial backing, Newcastle have been transformed from relegation candidates to silverware winners.
The defeat was another painful blow for Liverpool just days after their Champions League last 16 exit on penalties against Paris Saint-Germain.
But despite failing to win their first trophy under boss Arne Slot, Liverpool still sit 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League, within touching distance of a record-equalling 20th English title.
- History for Newcastle -
Liverpool are 23 points ahead of sixth-placed Newcastle in the league and hadn’t lost to them for 17 games dating back to 2015.
But Howe’s men were in no mood to be cowed by past failures
Newcastle fans unveiled a banner before kick-off urging their team to “write your name in the history books”.
They rose to the challenge in spectacular fashion, snapping into tackles and counter-attacking with purpose, while Liverpool were sluggish and sloppy in possession.
Bruno Guimaraes had a golden opportunity to reward Newcastle’s enterprising start when Burn headed Kieran Trippier’s corner towards the Brazil midfielder, but he nodded at Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher from close-range.
Newcastle’s desire and drive was clear to see when Joelinton tracked back from midfield to stop Jarell Quansah in his tracks and celebrated with a fist-pumping roar.
Despite nearly being caught out by Burn’s aerial prowess once before, Liverpool failed to heed the warning as the towering centre-back put Newcastle ahead in the 45th minute.
Bizarrely left unmarked, with only the diminutive Alex Mac Allister anywhere near him, Burn was allowed to rise unchallenged to meet Tripper’s corner as he thumped a powerful header into far corner from 12 yards.
Burn’s goal — Newcastle’s first in a cup final since 1976 — capped an incredible week for the journeyman centre-back, who received his first England call-up on Friday.
With Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah completely anonymous, the lethargic Reds had no answer as Isak put Newcastle into dreamland after 52 minutes.
Jacob Murphy met Tino Livramento’s cross with a header that found Isak, who drilled a superb first-time finish past Kelleher from 10 yards.
Chiesa’s stoppage-time strike set up an anxious finale, but good things comes to those who wait.
And all across Wembley, Newcastle players and fans celebrated with abandon as a party over half a century in the making got into full swing.
Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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Can’t they just sell some bitcoins to cover the losses
No because they claim all BTC have been stolen, but they got hacked and database leak says otherwise
It’s all fugazi
My advice if you have a few bob spare is invest one weekends drink money in lite coins. Created by Google engineers its an alternative to bit coin and a couple of years behind it. When you consider a bit coin was what a few euro and jumped up to 700 or so at one point. A lite coin is about 11 euro a coin. If anything you cash out in months with what you invest I do see it climbing.
You could mine then but jesus its painful and even if you have best pc its not worth it
I got 2,200 xrp free – ripple. Waiting to see what happens. Sat on my free mined bitcoins for a couple of years thinking they would never be worth anything, how wrong I was :)
Thanks. Going to look into that.
Do check it out :) mining a bit coin your talking years to wsrn one coin in which case you fried a few gpu’s and a esb bill of small country. They are expensive to but also hundred for one.
That’s why I think lite coins could work. Would you really miss €100 next year if it falls apart but could get nice little return. There is few sites where you can see how much bit and lite coins ate trafing against $£€
@eye c u depends on the hashing power you have. If you have a knc 2 terrahash miner you will mine a couple of bitcoins a year at current difficulty. Scrypt based coins like litecoin/dogecoin are cheaper for the average person to get involved in. BTW you never told us how you got those scars?
From dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight. I told you that last week.
The sooner this renegade stops dragging out its 15 minutes the better it’ll be for Bitcoin as a whole!
You just have to love the word “allegedly”!
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