After 70 long years, Newcastle’s wait came to an end.
The club funded by Saudi Arabia ended its agonizing drought by winning a major national trophy on Sunday, beating Liverpool 2-1 in the final of the English League Cup.
Dan Burn and Alexander Isak scored the goals at 45 and 52 minutes, respectively, to seal the victory at Wembley.
Substitute Federico Chiesa scored a goal for Liverpool in injury time, adding drama to the final stretch of the match, but Newcastle managed to hold on.
“Now we can say that we are champions again. This is one of the best days of my life,” stated Bruno Guimaraes, the Brazilian midfielder and captain of Newcastle.
Newcastle’s last major national trophy was the FA Cup in 1955. This is the first trophy they have lifted since being acquired by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund in 2021.
Liverpool leads the Premier League with a 12-point difference over Arsenal, their closest pursuer, and seems on track to win the 20th English league title that would equal Manchester United’s record this season.
But coach Arne Slot will have to wait for his first trophy since he succeeded Jurgen Klopp last year. The defeat closed a dismal week for the Premier League leader, as they had just been eliminated in the Champions League round of 16 by losing to Paris Saint-Germain in a penalty shootout.
“It took us seven, eight, nine months to lose twice in a row,” Slot said. “You know that if you go far in tournaments, the opposition you face becomes stronger and stronger. Even Liverpool can lose games.”
Burn’s powerful header put Newcastle ahead just before half-time and Isak doubled the lead with a close-range shot after the break.
The last major trophy won by Newcastle was the now-defunct Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969.
They got used to brushing against glory and suffering painful moments in the following years, including consecutive defeats in the FA Cup final in 1998 and 1999, and the loss to Manchester United in the League Cup final two years ago.
On this occasion, Eddie Howe’s team was a deserving champion against a Liverpool team that has been a clear dominator in the top category this season, with just one defeat.
“You don’t get many opportunities in a cup final. Today we had to try to take advantage of our chance and that’s where the players responded under pressure so effectively and impressively,” Howe said. “It also shows that we can compete against the best of the best.”
More trophies ahead?
Newcastle fans, whose joyful support filled Wembley, will hope that this is the beginning of things to come under their new owners.
Despite being backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which has assets of around 925 billion dollars, the financial fair play restrictions have limited Newcastle’s spending, meaning they have not been able to make the type of impactful signings that other clubs backed by Middle Eastern states' fortunes have made: Abu Dhabi with Manchester City and Qatar with PSG. Last summer, they only spent around 36 million dollars and earned around 100 million dollars in sales.
Burn and Isak were two of the great signings during the Saudi era and they responded at Wembley.
“With one (trophy) we hope that more can come,” Howe said about winning more titles in the future. “There’s no guarantee, it just shows that we can do it.”