Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle United: Burn and Isak end 70-year trophy drought

Dan Burn, fresh from his England call-up, opened the scoring with a towering header in the first half, before Alexander Isak had the decisive say on his 100th Newcastle appearance.

Federico Chiesa gave the Reds some late hope as Newcastle's defence was finally split open in second-half stoppage time, but his low drive proved nothing more than a consolation for Arne Slot's side.

Newcastle's triumph is their first in a major cup competition since they won the FA Cup in 1955.

Alexander Isak celebrates his 100th Newcastle appearance with his 58th goal for the club. It might yet prove to be his most important, too. pic.twitter.com/mTnuhjHbs4

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) March 16, 2025

Despite an open start, there were few clear-cut chances, with Harvey Barnes skewing an early volley well wide before Jacob Murphy blazed a wild effort high over the crossbar.

But with Liverpool struggling to click into gear, Newcastle eventually made the breakthrough on the stroke of half-time, as Burn beat Alexis Mac Allister to Kieran Trippier's corner, rising high to send a brilliant header beyond a wrong-footed Caoimhin Kelleher.

Newcastle picked up where they left off after the break, though were denied a second goal in the 51st minute as Bruno Guimaraes was judged to be impeding Kelleher from an offside position before Isak turned in from close range.

Isak was not to be denied just over a minute later though, as he latched onto Murphy's nod down to fire a first-time effort into the bottom-left corner.

Liverpool came to life from there, with substitute Curtis Jones forcing Nick Pope into a fine save with a rifled effort down the middle, though Kelleher had to be alert to deny Isak a second.

In a long period of stoppage time, Chiesa set up a nervy ending as he latched onto Harvey Elliott's throughball before firing a low shot under Pope. The offside flag initially went up, but the decision was overturned following a VAR review.

However, Newcastle held firm to end their long wait for glory.

70 years of hurt are OVER! @NUFC are #CarabaoCup winners! #EFL | #CarabaoCupFinal pic.twitter.com/n5gNOFIMhe

— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) March 16, 2025

On the last four occasions the holders had reached the EFL Cup final prior to this match, they had gone on to lift the trophy, but Liverpool were not able to continue that trend.

Having been forced to go the distance to penalties before suffering their Champions League exit against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, their fatigue was on show.

Liverpool had just one shot in the opening half, which came in the third minute of stoppage time through Diogo Jota – their joint-fewest in a first half under Slot (also one v PSG earlier this month).

Newcastle's defence remained tight in the first half, limiting Liverpool's talisman, Mohamed Salah, to just 13 touches in the opening 45 minutes. He did not fare much better in the second, as he only had a further 10, and did not manage a single shot.

Though Liverpool marginally improved in the second half, it was not until added time that they started to assert themselves. Chiesa's goal was just their second shot on target - in the 94th minute.

They dominated possession, having 65.5% of the ball, and made 61 final third entries, yet apart from Chiesa's excellent finish, they failed to truly threaten Newcastle's goal.

At the start of this week, Liverpool looked well set to push for a treble, but now their sole focus is on the Premier League. That will be a fine achievement for Slot in his first season at the club, but the Dutchman will no doubt be hugely disappointed at how this big week has turned out.

Newcastle's record in domestic cup finals was nothing to shout about going into the match, with the Magpies having lost the last five they had competed in across the EFL Cup (two) and the FA Cup (three) since their last triumph 70 years ago.

Indeed, they were unable to show the best version of themselves when they lost to Manchester United in the EFL Cup final two seasons ago.

Coupled with the fact that Newcastle had failed to win any of their previous 17 meetings with Liverpool prior to Sunday (D5 L12), they were not fancied to upset the odds, and yet they did just that.

WE ARE NEWCASTLE UNITEDCARABAO CUP WINNERS#wedontdoquiet pic.twitter.com/83eJqEr3gb

— Newcastle United (@NUFC) March 16, 2025

Eddie Howe's starting XI included five players aged 30+ and had an average age of 29 years and 13 days, the oldest by a team in an EFL Cup final since Man City in 2018, and their experience paid off.

But they came flying out of the blocks at Wembley, even though it took them until the 45th minute to get their reward as Burn became just the second Newcastle player to score in an EFL Cup final, after Alan Gowling in 1976 against Manchester City.

Isak, as he so often does, would grab a share of the headlines though, marking his milestone appearance for the club with what proved to be the winning goal, notching his 58th for Newcastle in all competitions. Among Premier League players, only Erling Haaland (113) and Salah (84) have netted more since Isak's Magpies debut in August 2022.

Despite having much less of the ball, Newcastle were dominant where it counted, keeping Liverpool under the cosh with 17 shots worth 1.84 expected goals (xG).