Dominik Szoboszlai's Last-Minute Penalty Salvages Draw for Liverpool
Dominik Szoboszlai buried a penalty in the ninth minute of stoppage time to rip two points out of Newcastle’s hands and cap a wild Premier League draw that felt like a tribute act to Kevin Keegan’s glory days.
St James’ Park had already started to celebrate. Newcastle were seconds away from a statement win when Lewis Hall was judged to have tripped substitute Víctor Muñoz in the box. Hall dropped to his knees in disbelief as Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot. Szoboszlai stayed cold, sent Alisson Becker the wrong way from 12 yards, and dragged Liverpool level at 2-2, stretching their unbeaten run on Tyneside to 10 league games.
It was brutal on Newcastle. They had twice led, twice thought they had the game where they wanted it, and still walked away with only a point.
Keegan’s day, Keegan’s kind of game
This was billed as a celebration of Keegan, the man who electrified both Tyneside and Merseyside. Before kick-off, both sets of players emerged for the warm-up in Keegan number seven shirts, an emotional nod to a shared icon. The sentimentality stopped once the whistle went.
Alexander Isak, back at St James’ Park in the colours of Liverpool and carrying a £130million price tag, was booed from his first touch. The hostility only sharpened when Newcastle’s new era landed its first real punch.
After just five minutes, Amar Dedic, impressive on debut, slid a clever ball into Will Osula. The youngster waited, picked his moment and slipped Anthony Elanga through with a perfectly weighted pass. Elanga burned away from Milos Kerkez, opened his body and drove a right-foot finish across Alisson into the far corner. St James’ erupted. Isak could only watch.
Liverpool tried to respond immediately. Lukás Hornícek had to be sharp to turn away Florian Wirtz’s deflected effort in the 18th minute, but Newcastle’s looseness in possession kept inviting red shirts forward. Matthias Jaissle’s side flirted with trouble, misplacing passes in dangerous areas and handing Liverpool territory they didn’t need to concede.
Yet Newcastle still carried menace. Lewis Miley picked out Dedic with a raking diagonal on 22 minutes, the full-back’s shot clipping Kerkez and looping over for a corner. Jérémy Jacquet then read the danger just in time to stop Osula latching onto a Yoane Wissa through-ball that would have left him clean through.
Liverpool hogged the ball without really hurting Newcastle. Szoboszlai smashed a 26th-minute free-kick straight into the wall after Wissa had tugged him back, and as the half-time whistle went, the home side’s narrow 1-0 lead felt hard-earned rather than fragile.
Gakpo strikes, Willock answers
Szoboszlai started to exert more influence after the break, his early corner causing panic in the Newcastle box. But it was the hosts who should have struck again on the counter. Harvey Barnes and Elanga broke at speed, only to waste a promising opening with a poor final decision. Moments later, Miley had time on the edge of the area in the 48th minute but couldn’t seriously test Alisson.
The warning signs were there. Cody Gakpo curled just over from distance in the 53rd minute with Hornícek rooted. Two minutes later, the Dutchman didn’t miss. Given too much time and space 25 yards out, he stepped onto the ball and drilled a skidding drive past Hornícek to make it 1-1. Liverpool finally had their equaliser, and the away end roared as if the game had tilted decisively.
It hadn’t. Not even close.
Within seconds of the restart, Newcastle hit back. Wissa, who turned in his best performance yet in black and white, danced through a challenge on the edge of the area and fed substitute Joe Willock. On the pitch for only moments, Willock shifted the ball inside and arrowed a low shot across Alisson into the far corner. St James’ Park exploded again. Jaissle punched the air. Liverpool were stunned.
Newcastle push, Liverpool hang on – and then strike
Newcastle smelled blood. Wissa kept tormenting the Liverpool back line, his movement and strength constantly unsettling a defence that never looked fully comfortable. Jaissle’s changes added more running and more threat. Jacob Ramsey, another substitute, arrived late in the box and lashed a 70th-minute volley wide when he should at least have hit the target.
Liverpool clung on. When Wissa burst clear one-on-one, Alisson stood tall and blocked, a huge save that kept the visitors alive heading into the final stretch. Newcastle, chasing a decisive third, left spaces. Liverpool, desperate not to lose, kept probing without much rhythm.
Time slipped away. The home crowd started to believe this was done, that Keegan’s day would end with a Newcastle win and a chorus of “what might this season become?”
Then came the twist.
Deep into stoppage time, a tangle in the box between Hall and Muñoz drew Attwell’s whistle. Hall looked stunned, protesting his innocence, but the decision stood. Szoboszlai stepped up, the stadium held its breath, and the Hungarian lashed in the penalty to snatch a point.
Jaissle, only weeks into the job and still waiting to see how the squad will look when the window shuts, had every reason to be encouraged by the intensity, the invention, and the way his players twice responded to setbacks. Across the technical area, Andoni Iraola left relieved to escape with something, yet with plenty to dissect.
On a day built around memories of Keegan’s attacking chaos, Newcastle and Liverpool delivered a game he would have recognised instantly. The question now is whether this kind of breathless, high-wire football becomes Newcastle’s new normal under Jaissle – and whether Liverpool can keep surviving nights like this without something eventually giving way.
