Newcastle United vs Liverpool; Premier League
Newcastle United vs Liverpool. Premier League.
St James' Park, Newcastle.
Newcastle United 2
- A Elanga (5th minute)
- J Willock (57th minute)
Liverpool 2
- C Gakpo (55th minute)
- D Szoboszlai (99th minute pen)
Watch match highlights
Newcastle 2-2 Liverpool: Dominik Szoboszlai snatches last-minute leveller from penalty spot to rescue Andoni Iraola
Report and free match highlights as Dominik Szoboszlai's 99th-minute penalty snatches last-gasp Premier League point for Liverpool at Newcastle, who had twice led through Anthony Elanga and Joe Willock
Sunday 23 August 2026 19:54, UK
Dominik Szoboszlai's last-gasp penalty earned Andoni Iraola a debut Liverpool point to deny Newcastle victory on Matthias Jaissle's managerial debut in a pulsating 2-2 draw at St James' Park.
In the battle of two of the Premier League's newest head coaches, it was Jaissle's Magpies who adapted the quicker to their task despite his own admission the club still faces a "huge challenge" this summer, until Lewis Hall's 96th-minute challenge on Victor Munoz allowed Szoboszlai to rescue a draw.
Jaissle's side had flown out of the blocks, perhaps motivated by the pre-match tributes to Newcastle and Liverpool great Kevin Keegan, observed from all four sides of the stadium, and raced into a fifth-minute lead once Will Osula set Anthony Elanga away over the halfway line to net his first league goal for the club.
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It owed something, too, to Liverpool's over-exuberant midfield with Osula left up against the visitors' two centre-backs to make the opener from a single pass from the edge of the Newcastle area.
"It's something we've been talking about all week," Iraola told Sky Sports after the game. "We have to finish more plays, we were trying to overdo things in the first phase."
Much had been expected of Alexander Isak on his first return to St James' Park after a much-needed uninterrupted pre-season, but it was the chorus of boos that met his every touch which won out comfortably on a disappointing afternoon for the striker.
Cody Gakpo, who may well depart Anfield inside the next eight days, was instead their most dangerous asset, making the most of their bright start to the second period with a pinpoint low drive beating Lukas Hornicek 10 minutes after the break to level.
The away fans were still celebrating by the time Newcastle once again took advantage of those midfield issues three minutes later, with the impressive Yoane Wissa beating several players before feeding Joe Willock to restore the hosts' lead.
Both sides traded half-chances in the closing stages but Liverpool failed to lay a real glove on Newcastle until Munoz was brought down by Hall and Szoboszlai's emphatic penalty snatched a point for Iraola, whose side looked off the level of his demands on the evidence of their opening showing.
The key moments from St James' Park
- 5: GOAL! Anthony Elanga finishes off a quick Newcastle counter-attack in their first shot of the game as Liverpool are found committing too many men forward.
- 18: CHANCE! Florian Wirtz connects well with a loose ball when Milos Kerkez's cross is half-cleared, and pulls a strong save out of Lukas Hornicek.
- 25: SAVE! Yoane Wissa feeds Will Osula with a lovely outside-of-the-boot pass but Alisson gets an all-important toe to deny him.
- 55: GOAL! Cody Gakpo takes advantage of Liverpool's bright start to the second half with a low driven effort beyond Hornicek from 20 yards.
- 57: SUBS! Joe Willock becomes one of two of Matthias Jaissle's first Newcastle changes...
- 58: GOAL! And within two minutes, fires Newcastle back in front after superb work from Wissa in the build-up.
- 90+6: PENALTY! Lewis Hall lunges at substitute Victor Munoz in his own box, and Stuart Attwell points straight to the spot.
- 90+9: GOAL! Following a protracted VAR check and some gamesmanship within the Newcastle ranks, Dominik Szoboszlai buries his penalty with a superb strike into the top corner.
Iraola: Hard luck to miss out on debut victory
Newcastle head coach Matthias Jaissle on Sky Sports:
"Hard luck, I would say. I'm really, really happy with the performance after such a short amount of time. The guys were fighting till the end, they put their heart on the pitch and this is something we said that's not negotiable.
"That's the standard. And together with the crowd, it was, in general, a really good performance. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the full three points. The heads are a little bit down, but they're also realistic, they know that we had many mini challenges already."
Iraola: Bench players gave us more energy
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola on Sky Sports:
"I don't think we deserve to lose the game and I value the effort from the players. I haven't looked at the stats, but I'm sure we will have more chances, more everything.
"I think the players coming from the bench gave us energy. I don't know if they played better, worse, but they gave us energy. And you can feel the way we want to play, everyone is not going to last 90 minutes. So we need this energy from the ones coming from the bench and I think today it happened."
