16-year-old Rio Ngumoha stuns 10-man Newcastle with 100th-minute Liverpool winner

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View image in fullscreen16-year-old Rio Ngumoha stuns 10-man Newcastle with 100th-minute Liverpool winner

Goodness knows what the man who was not there made of it all.

Might Alexander Isak have felt the tiniest bit guilty at the sight of his increasingly overwrought understudy, Anthony Gordon, missing a couple of extremely presentable chances before being sent off for a ridiculous first-half tackle on Virgil van Dijk?

And how did Newcastle’s currently striking star striker assess Hugo ­Ekitiké’s attacking performance for Liverpool?



As Liverpool’s manager Arne Slot said afterwards: “I’m not sure it was a football match today.”

By kick-off it had been dubbed “El Isako” and Ryan Gravenberch’s booking for a wince-inducing tackle on Bruno Guimarães swiftly set the tone as this 100mph rerun of last season’s Carabao Cup final opened in highly charged, almost anarchic mode.

If Liverpool wanted revenge for that Wembley defeat, the sheer, feral fury of a Newcastle crowd incensed by Slot’s pursuit of Isak and Liverpool’s perceived audacity in hijacking Howe’s move for Ekitiké transmitted itself to an electrically charged home team.

Before too long Gordon would self-destruct but, for a while, he rattled Liverpool.

On Monday afternoonsome members of that delegation joined ­Newcastle’s minority owner, Jamie Reuben, in visiting Isak at home to try to persuade him into a change of heart.

Considering that earlier in the day Wolves had rejected a £50m bid from St James’ Park for their striker Jørgen Strand Larsen, the boardroom chat with Liverpool executives can hardly have been dull.

Neither was a match that was ­initially dominated by a home side who, nonetheless, fell behind when an unsighted Nick Pope was beaten by ­Gravenberch’s low, slightly deflected shot from the edge of the area in the 35th minute.

Pope enjoyed a reprieve when Mohamed Salah’s subtly curving cross proved just slightly too clever for a startled looking Ekitiké.

When the Dutchman’s ensuing shot was blocked, Ekitiké reacted first to the rebound, drilling an unstoppable shot past Pope.

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Either side of their goals, Liverpool had taken surprisingly few touches in Newcastle’s area but their efficiency when it mattered most had hurt their hosts.

Not that it was quite over just yet.

When Tino Livramento curled a cross into the area, Guimarães capitalised on slapdash defending by Milos Kerkez to head Newcastle’s 10 men right back into things in the 57th minute.

Suddenly Liverpool almost looked the team at a numerical disadvantage, but then injuries began stemming the tide of the black-and-white waves.