Mohamed Salah’s blistering form was nowhere to be seen as Liverpool were beaten by Newcastle United within the Carabao Cup final.
Salah has enjoyed his most efficient campaign to this point at Anfield, scoring 32 goals and making 22 assists in all competitions.
His form has led to calls for Salah to win the Ballon d’Or award and be officially recognised as the most effective player on this planet.
The 32-year-old hoped to fireside Liverpool to yet one more trophy at Wembley on Sunday but got here up short as Newcastle sealed a 2-1 win to finish their long wait for silverware.
Dan Burn’s powerful headed put Newcastle in front on the stroke of half-time and in-form striker Alexander Isak doubled the Magpies’ lead shortly after the break.
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Federico Chiesa pulled a goal back for Liverpool in injury-time but Newcastle held on to win their first trophy since 1969.
With just 23 touches of the ball, Salah was surprisingly subdued at Wembley as a part of a Liverpool attack that rarely threatened Nick Pope’s goal.
In keeping with Opta, it was in truth the primary time in his Anfield profession that Salah neither attempted a shot nor created a probability when he has played the complete 90 minutes of a match.
Liverpool were eyeing a surprising treble this time last week but Arne Slot’s side were knocked out of the Champions League in midweek before their Wembley defeat to Newcastle.
The Reds will, after all, win the Premier League barring a remarkable turnaround, with second-placed Arsenal currently 12 points behind within the title race.
Speaking after lifting the Carabao Cup final, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said: ‘I’m very, very emotional and been all day which is unlike me.
‘We knew what was at stake today for all of our fans, we desired to do them proud and win the trophy.
‘I’m so, so pleased with the result and the performance – we deserved to win today.
‘It was tough when Liverpool scored. I used to be excited about overtime, we at all times make it difficult for ourselves it was never going to be 2-0.
‘We were well aware of the history and we desired to do the club proud. We desired to rating, we desired to perform and we desired to win.’
Howe, who arrived at St James’ Park in 2021, added: ‘We’re breaking recent ground, I believed we were magnificent today.
‘We worked consistently for 2 weeks on set plays only for this game and in case you had seen us in practice you’ll have said we had no probability.
‘We couldn’t consider Dan Burn scored – he didn’t train like that! He was a colossus for us.’
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