Carabao Cup: Newcastle beat Liverpool to end 56-year trophy drought

Newcastle ends a 50-year trophy drought with a 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Liverpool at Wembley. A historic triumph for the Geordies.

Newcastle players celebrate with their Carabao trophy after beating Liverpool at Wembley On Sunday. (Photo credit: GOAL)

There's so much to unpack from the weekend, especially in England, where Newcastle ended over five decades of trophy drought with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Wembley over Liverpool, and you just want to ask if their juice is drying up.

It's been ages since the Geordies last celebrated anything at all; they were in the Carabao Cup final a couple of seasons ago but lost at Wembley to Manchester United, making their return to Wembley against Liverpool something to die for.

With Anthony Gordon, Sven Botman, and Lewis Hall missing due to suspension and injuries, respectively, Eddie Howe trusted Harvey Barnes on the left of the attack. Kieran Trippier and youngster Tino Livramento both took the defensive flanks, and boy, didn't they deliver?

Liverpool sent in Caoimhín Kelleher in goal, and everyone else returned with Diogo Jota replacing Darwin Núñez upfront, but the Newcastle defence nullified the firepower of Mohamed Salah and Luis Díaz, as the Reds didn't register a single shot on target in the first half.

Newcastle took a deserved lead late in the first half through local boy Dan Burn and then doubled their lead early in the second half. Liverpool left it late, but despite a stoppage-time goal from Federico Chiesa, it was too little too late as Newcastle ran out winners.

"I feel amazing," Howe told reporters. "It's been an incredible day; I am so pleased with our performance. It wasn't a lucky win; it was fully deserved.

"You have so many difficult days in football, and this club has had its fair share of them, so we just want to enjoy the moment and take it all in.

"I am so pleased to get this trophy to end the long wait, and hopefully we can get some more in the future.

"We have some iconic players who will go down as legends, but hopefully with one [trophy], it can become more.

"There are no guarantees in football, but this has proved we can do it. You don't get many opportunities to play in a cup final, not many shots at it, but we took it today.

"We proved we can mix it with the very best and want to do that more often now."