Nine minutes of stoppage time, one penalty
Lewis Hall picked the worst possible moment to mistime a challenge. Ninety-nine minutes had gone at St James’ Park. Newcastle were leading Liverpool 2-1 and had one clearance left to survive. Hall caught Victor Munoz inside the box on the Liverpool debutant’s biggest moment of the afternoon, and the referee pointed to the spot.
Dominik Szoboszlai took it. He buried it. Newcastle’s opening day ended with a point instead of three, and with a number that keeps climbing.
The Magpies have now gone 20 Premier League matches against Liverpool without a win, six draws and 14 defeats. Only Manchester City have ever made them wait longer, 22 games between February 2006 and September 2018.
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Elanga and Willock had done the hard part
Anthony Elanga struck after five minutes and Newcastle spent most of the afternoon looking like the better-organised side. Cody Gakpo levelled on 55 minutes with a low finish, and the answer arrived inside two minutes. Elanga carried the ball upfield, laid it off, and Joe Willock curled a shot beyond Alisson from range.
Matthias Jaissle had won his first match in charge at Liefering, Red Bull Salzburg and Al Ahli. The German was seven minutes of stoppage time away from making it four out of four on Tyneside.
Iraola keeps alive a run he never asked about
Andoni Iraola walked into his first league game as Liverpool manager carrying the longest active unbeaten sequence of anyone in the division: the final 18 matches of Bournemouth’s 2025-26 season. It now reads 19. He has still never lost to Newcastle in the Premier League, seven meetings, three wins and four draws.
Liverpool have not lost a league opener since a 3-0 defeat at West Brom in 2012-13, a run stretching 14 seasons. They also stayed unbeaten on their last 10 league visits to St James’ Park, matching Manchester City’s record for away trips to Tyneside. The four goals pushed this fixture’s Premier League tally to 202, making it only the third to pass 200 after Liverpool v Tottenham and Arsenal v Tottenham.
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