Toons tough it out for late equaliser in six-goal thriller

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.

- RICHARD JOLLY

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.

The temptation is to suggest that, with their dynamism and determination, their fearlessness and ferocity, Newcastle revived a title race that was in danger of a premature death. Certainly, they gave a little hope to the rest, though it took a colossal effort, with industrial quantities of dynamism and determination, to deny Liverpool.

“A big part of me feels we should have won it,” said manager Eddie Howe. And yet, as he admitted, there was also relief Newcastle did not lose. For Liverpool, too, the good and the bad could be balanced out. While there were defensive tremors from Slot’s side, conceding three times in a match for the first time in his tenure, there was also evidence of character and brilliance.

In a game overflowing with incident, packed with personal storylines, Mohamed Salah was magnificent: scoring two goals, setting up another, hitting the bar.