(Football news) Newcastle United will play a match at the Wembley Stadium for the first time in 24 years after defeating Southampton 3-1 on aggregate to reach the Carabao Cup final. Sean Longstaff was the unlikely goal scorer, giving the Magpies the lead in the 5th minute and doubling their advantage in the 21st minute before Che Adams pulled a goal back from outside the box to give Southampton some hope. Newcastle will now play in their first major final since the 1999 FA Cup and will feature in their first League Cup final since 1976. 

However, it wasn’t a perfect game for Eddie Howe’s side as Bruno Guimaraes received a late red card due to a late challenge on Samuel Edozie and is now banned for three games. He will now miss out on the West Ham, Bournemouth and Liverpool fixtures but will be available in the Carabao Cup final. Manchester United remain favourites to progress into the Carabao Cup final as they already have a 3-0 lead against Nottingham Forest going into the second leg, which will take place at Old Trafford on Wednesday night. 

Newcastle United have seen a dramatic change in fortunes since the Saudi Consortium purchased the club from Mike Ashley. The Magpies remain in contention to secure Champions League qualification next year and will feature in a League Cup final for the first time in 47 years. It was 24 years ago that Newcastle last played at Wembley and 54 years since they last won a trophy, which was the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. It has been 68 years since Newcastle last won a domestic trophy – the 1955 FA Cup but all those records could be broken if they win the Carabao Cup final. 

“Team spirit and togetherness carries you a long way and we do have that at the moment. It’s my job to try and protect it, encourage it and increase it. I’ve got some brilliant professionals in that dressing room who have done the club proud this season. [Longstaff] is pivotal as he is Newcastle through and through.

“He’s an excellent player and only adding goals will increase everyone else’s awareness of that. I’m so pleased for him as he deserved the accolades. [The red card] was a huge blow for us and it will take time for it to sink in. He’s a huge player as everything goes through him – we’ll miss him. But it will be an opportunity for someone else.” – Newcastle boss Eddie Howe

“I was really disappointed with the first 20 minutes. We were really passive with what we wanted to do. We weren’t aggressive, and the goals were really bad. We let runners go. The two opportunities we gave them. It was [defensive] suicide really. But the reaction after that was fantastic.

“We got a goal back, and in the second half we were excellent. We were really positive, the only thing we lacked was a little bit of cutting-edge. We had a glorious chance but we couldn’t take it.” – Southampton boss Nathan Jones

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