Among the sea of black and white on Wembley Way on Sunday afternoon, there were visible dashes of yellow and green. The national flag of Brazil was draped around a few Newcastle fans, in a show of support for Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton.
The two Newcastle stars were always going to have to deliver exceptional individual performances for their club's 54-year wait for a trophy to end against Manchester United.
Instead, the pair were outdone by their fellow countryman, Casemiro, and the Brazilian flags at the Newcastle end were lowered. The world's best defensive midfielder performed on the biggest stage and he made a statement to the pretenders.
