And breathe. After 90 minutes of rollicking, rumbustious entertainment, amid his frustration, Arne Slot could at least console himself with the sense he was vindicated in one respect. The Liverpool head coach had suggested Newcastle United could provide his side with a tougher test than either Real Madrid or Manchester City and, amid the drama on Tyneside, he was proved right. A fixture with a history of classics delivered another.
Yet if in the greatest of all, 1996’s 4-3, the final twist in the tale came at Newcastle’s expense, this time it was Liverpool who suffered. Caoimhin Kelleher, fantastic and almost flawless in his spell deputising for Alisson, came out for, and got caught under, Bruno Guimaraes’s free kick. Fabian Schar applied the far-post finish. Newcastle had a third goal of the night and became only the third team, after Nottingham Forest and Arsenal, to deny Slot’s side victory in his 21-game reign.
