Late Darwin Nunez double snatches points for 10-man Liverpool
SMASH AND GRAB: Liverpool's Darwin Nunez celebrates after scoring his side's first goal.
A stoppage-time winner from Darwin Nunez capped a stunning comeback from 10-man Liverpool in a display that went from the ridiculous to the sublime.
The Uruguay international came off the bench to score twice in the last nine minutes, levelling with a clinical angled drive in a contest Jurgen Klopp's side had seemingly done their best to throw away until, with the odds stacked almost impossibly against them, they dug deep to stretch their 14-game Premier League unbeaten run.
A point looked to be daylight robbery, but deep into added time, Nunez broke through to beat Pope again with another nerveless effort to seal a quite unfathomable outcome given what had gone on before.
As a former Evertonian, it didn't require a second invitation for Anthony Gordon to initially exploit a Liverpool implosion of epic proportions. Jurgen Klopp looked on with a mixture of bemusement and disbelief in a first-half where his troops pulled the trigger after pointing the gun squarely at their own feet with acts of breath-taking self-sabotage.
Released by the Anfield club as an 11-year-old, Gordon accepted the gifts on offer with relish as the England Under-21 international clearly impressed the watching Gareth Southgate.
Two of the German's most trusted lieutenants, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold were the chief culprits in handing what looked like a first Newcastle victory in this fixture in approaching eight years.
In the space of 140 pivotal seconds midway through the first-half, Alexander-Arnold waved Gordon through for the contest's opening goal, before van Dijk handed them a numerical advantage with the kind of agricultural challenge that speaks volumes about the Dutchman's waning powers.
Alexander-Arnold was fortunate to avoid being sent off himself inside the opening 10 minutes when the flustered full-back took out Gordon with a high elbow moments after being cautioned for petulantly throwing the ball away when a decision went against him.
The England international probably wished he had received his marching orders when in the 25th minute his basic mis-control from a routine Mo Salah pass allowed Gordon to run through on goal to find the net with a calm finish under goalkeeper Allison for his first goal on Tyneside since a £45m move from Goodison Park in January.
St James' Park was still celebrating when an astute pass from Gordon - who else? - resulted in a laboured van Dijk's challenge upending Alexander Isak on the edge of the area curtailed his involvement in proceedings.
There was no reprieve from the cursory VAR check to rightly uphold the defender's first Liverpool red card. As the last man in denying a goal-scoring opportunity the far-from-flying Dutchman could have no complaints, though that didn't stop him from spewing needless abuse at any official within earshot en route to first use of the changing facilities.
Allison brilliantly turned Miguel Almiron's volley onto the bar after a deft chest control by Newcastle's South American to ensure Liverpool suffered no further damage before the break.
To their credit, the 10 men stuck to their task to remain very much in the game with just a single-goal deficit. A sliding Sven Botman block diverted Salah's angled drive from a diminishing angle, but normal service was swiftly restored when the frame of the goal again thwarted Almiron after a surging 50-yard run and shot.
Nunez made the most of a fortunate bounce off Botman from a Diogo Jota pass to beat Pope with a precise finish, then repeated the feat from Salah's through ball to find the same corner of the Newcastle keeper's net to seal a scarcely believable result.
Pope 5; Trippier 5, Schar 5, Botman 6 (Targett 87, 5), Burn 5; Tonali 6 (Longstaff 72, 5), Guimaraes 6, Joelinton 6 (Anderson 82, 5); Almiron 6, Isak 6 (Wilson 72, 6), Gordon 8 (Barnes 72, 5).
Trippier.
Alisson 6; Alexander-Arnold 5, Matip 5 (Quansah 77, 5), van Dijk 2, Robertson 6; Szoboszlai 6, Endo 4 (Elliott 58, 6), MacAllister 5 (Nunez 78, 9); Salah 6, Gakpo 4 (Jota 58, 7), Diaz 5 (Gomez 33, 7).
van Dijk.
Alexander-Arnold, Nunez.
John Brooks
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