Dominik Szoboszlai Saves Liverpool with Late Penalty
Dominik Szoboszlai buried a penalty deep into stoppage time to rip the points from Newcastle’s grasp and cap a wild Premier League afternoon that felt straight out of Kevin Keegan’s heyday.
The Hungary midfielder stepped up in the ninth minute of added time, sent Lukás Hornícek the wrong way and dragged Liverpool to a 2-2 draw, stretching the visitors’ unbeaten run at St James’ Park to 10 league games. The decision that gave him the chance, though, left Tyneside seething.
Lewis Hall was judged to have brought down substitute Víctor Muñoz in the box as the clock bled out. Stuart Attwell pointed straight to the spot. Hall stood in disbelief, hands on head. Szoboszlai didn’t blink.
Newcastle had already done the hard part. Twice.
Keegan tributes, Keegan chaos
This was a day built around nostalgia. Both teams came out for the warm-up in Keegan number seven shirts, the stadium pausing for an emotional tribute to a man who shaped eras at both clubs.
Once the whistle went, the sentiment vanished. Alexander Isak, back at St James’ Park as a £130million Liverpool forward and the man Yoane Wissa has in part been signed to replace, walked into a wall of noise. Every touch, jeered. Every miscontrol, cheered.
The jeers turned into an explosion after just five minutes.
Newcastle’s new right-back Amar Dedic, impressive from the first sprint, slid a clever ball into Will Osula between the lines. Osula waited, waited, then released Anthony Elanga with a perfectly weighted pass. Elanga burned past Milos Kerkez, opened his body and whipped a low right-foot finish across Alisson into the far corner.
St James’ Park shook. Isak stared at the turf.
Liverpool tried to hit back immediately. Szoboszlai started to dictate, and in the 18th minute Florian Wirtz saw a deflected strike force Hornícek into a sharp save. Yet Andoni Iraola’s side kept losing the ball cheaply, inviting waves of pressure they didn’t need.
Newcastle, under new boss Matthias Jaissle, were anything but passive. Lewis Miley sprayed a superb 22nd-minute diagonal to Dedic, whose shot flicked off Kerkez and flew behind for a corner. Jérémy Jacquet then read Osula’s run perfectly to cut out a Wissa through-ball that had the crowd half out of their seats.
Liverpool hogged possession without hurting. Szoboszlai smacked a 26th-minute free-kick straight into the wall after Wissa tugged him back. The half drifted to a close with Newcastle still 1-0 up and the home fans loving every second of Isak’s misery.
Gakpo strikes, Willock answers
Szoboszlai tried to drag Liverpool up a gear after the break, his early corner causing panic in the six-yard box. Newcastle, though, carried the more direct threat. Harvey Barnes and Elanga broke at pace but wasted a promising counter, and Miley shot tamely at Alisson on 48 minutes when space opened up on the edge of the area.
The warning signs were there for Newcastle. Cody Gakpo curled just over from distance on 53 minutes with Hornícek rooted, a sighter that felt ominous. Two minutes later, he didn’t miss.
Given room to measure his effort from around 25 yards, Gakpo stepped onto the ball and lashed a skidding drive past Hornícek, who could only watch it fizz into the corner. 1-1, and Liverpool finally had a foothold.
St James’ Park sagged for all of 60 seconds.
Straight from the restart, Newcastle punched back. Wissa, outstanding all afternoon, danced through a red shirt or two on the edge of the box and slipped the ball into Joe Willock, who had just come off the bench. Willock chopped inside, opened up his angle and drilled a precise finish across Alisson into the far corner.
Jaissle’s technical area erupted. The stadium roared Willock’s name. In the space of three minutes, the game had caught fire.
Newcastle push, Liverpool cling on
Newcastle sensed blood. Wissa bullied Liverpool’s back line, constantly finding pockets of space and dragging defenders into places they didn’t want to go. Isak, on the other hand, endured a grim homecoming, feeding off scraps and the relentless hostility of 52,630 home fans.
Jaissle, still only weeks into the job and with his squad likely to change again before the window closes, prowled the touchline, urging his team to press higher. They responded. Substitute Jacob Ramsey volleyed wide on 70 minutes when he might have done better, and Wissa soon found himself clean through, only for Alisson to stand tall and block the one-on-one.
Liverpool looked rattled. Passes went astray, tackles arrived late. Iraola’s side were hanging on, their manager as much relieved as animated on the sideline.
Newcastle, though, never found the killer third. And that failure came back to haunt them.
Late twist, bitter taste
As the game ticked into the final seconds of stoppage time, Liverpool launched one last hopeful attack. The ball broke to Víctor Muñoz in the area, Hall stepped across, and the pair tangled. Muñoz went down. Attwell pointed to the spot.
Hall’s reaction said everything. Anguish, shock, a stare of disbelief at the referee. The home crowd howled. The decision stood.
Szoboszlai took the ball, shut out the noise and did what elite players do. One clean strike from 12 yards, one point rescued, one unbeaten run at St James’ Park extended to double figures.
Newcastle walked off to applause tinged with frustration, Jaissle encouraged by the aggression and fluency of his new-look side but denied a statement win. Iraola escaped across the Pennines with a draw and a list of problems to solve.
On a day built to honour Keegan, the football did him justice. The question now is whether either of these teams can turn this kind of chaos into something more lasting over the season.
