Liverpool let late lead slip in six-goal thriller at Newcastle
Fabian Schar snatched victory from Liverpool’s grasp as Newcastle held the Premier League leaders to a rip-roaring 3-3 draw at St James’ Park.
Mohamed Salah looked to have rescued an eighth successive win in all competitions when his second-half double – both set up by substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold – put the visitors 3-2 ahead after Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon had struck either side of Curtis Jones’ equaliser.
However, Switzerland defender Schar squeezed home a 90th-minute equaliser to claim a deserved point at the end of a thrilling encounter which rekindled memories of the two 4-3 classics between the sides during the 1990s.
The tone was set early on when Caoimhin Kelleher had to palm away Sandro Tonali’s second-minute shot, and they needed skipper Virgil van Dijk’s intervention when he hacked away Isak’s cross inside the six-yard box with Bruno Guimaraes awaiting a tap-in after the striker had exchanged passes with Joelinton.
The Reds responded in determined fashion, Alexis Mac Allister sending Nick Pope sprawling to palm away his low drive before clipping the outside of a post with a left-foot attempt after a corner had been half-cleared.
Newcastle almost took the lead in spectacular style in the 22nd minute. Gordon muscled Salah off the ball, Isak picked out Jacob Murphy’s run with a fine pass and his shot flew past Kelleher and hit the base of the post.
Guimaraes fired straight at the keeper after Isak had tricked his way deep into the box and crossed seconds later, and Lewis Hall was only denied a close-range shot at goal by Joe Gomez’s desperate challenge after Isak had nutmegged Van Dijk and threaded the needle.
The deadlock was broken 10 minutes before half-time when Guimaraes slid the ball into the Sweden international’s path and saw him step outside Van Dijk before blasting an unstoppable shot past Kelleher.
It should have been 2-0 within three minutes when Gomez’s error gifted Gordon a free run at goal, only for the former Everton winger to stab the ball straight at a grateful Kelleher.
Having finished the first half in the ascendancy, the hosts returned determined to maintain their momentum, but it was punctured within five minutes when Salah, who had endured a quiet evening until that point, found time and space on the right to cross for Jones to sweep home an equaliser.
Cody Gakpo saw a 53rd-minute effort deflected just wide and Darwin Nunez just failed to get a touch on the Netherlands international’s header back across goal.
Gomez threw himself into the path of Gordon’s shot after he had surged deep into enemy territory on the hour, but the Liverpool-born frontman was not to be denied and when Isak accepted Guimaraes’ pass and slid him in, he cut inside before firing across Kelleher to make it 2-1.
Pope produced a fine reaction save to keep out Jones’ 65th-minute header, but he was beaten for a second time three minutes later when substitute Alexander-Arnold crossed for Salah to whip the ball inside the far post.
Murphy lifted the ball over the advancing Kelleher but wide of the goal after running on to Gordon’s pass over the top, but Salah was denied by the upright after forcing his way in from the right with eight minutes to go.
He thought he had won it seconds later when he span on Alexander Arnold’s cross and beat Pope for his 15th goal of the season, only for Schar to snatch a point when he slid in to convert Guimaraes’ free-kick from a tight angle.
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