As Newcastle and Liverpool clash in unique Carabao Cup final, so do romance and politics | OneFootball

By the early hours of Wednesday morning, Arne Slot was already thinking about ways to subtly recondition Liverpool’s focus. He wanted to make sure the players seamlessly went from the disappointment of Wednesday in the Champions League to seizing the opportunity of Sunday in the Carabao Cup final.

There were no such necessities for Newcastle United. They’ve been gearing up to this for weeks, because they’ve been waiting for such an opportunity for years. The disappointment of the 2023 final defeat to Manchester United only sharpens that anticipation. Bruno Guimaraes even made the surprising admission that Sunday’s appointment at Wembley had been “a little bit” of a distraction.

“Of course we think about the final, it’s massive for the club’s history. We want to be part of it and make that history.”

That went against usual football diplomacy, where players talk of only focusing on the next game, but that’s perhaps part of the charm. It’s also part of the strange dynamics of these occasions, that at once enrich football but can also make it so emotionally wrenching.

When you have meetings like this, they tend to be won by the team that wants it least. Liverpool have bigger concerns, after all, and many of these players won the Carabao Cup last year.

Many at Newcastle United can’t remember winning any trophy at all. Nobody needs reminding that it is 56 years since the club lifted the old Fairs Cup, which was the Europa League’s forerunner, and 70 since the FA Cup. You can sense the yearning. The joy would be a sight to behold, beyond any emotion even Liverpool’s supporters would produce in this instance. The Anfield crowd could possibly compare the feeling to their own 30-year wait for a league title. Put simply, it would mean more.

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The emotion of a Newcastle win on Sunday would have echoes of Liverpool’s domestic-title triumph in 2019/20 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

There is a real romance about that regarding the fans, and Newcastle would usually be the neutrals’ favourites, especially against a more successful club. Except, all of that is complicated by Saudi Arabian ownership.

Some will bristle at the very mention, at the idea of bringing such talk into a moment like this. That is on the ownership deciding to buy the club, though. They have made it impossible not to discuss, especially with the way states politically use moments like this.

What’s more, many rival fans mention it every time they play Newcastle. That is relevant to the point that will be made about “neutrals” several times over this weekend. Some of it might be “banter”, but there is also the more serious discussion of how such a controversial takeover has stymied opportunity for other clubs.

These are big and complicated themes that are just as important and valid as the meaning of the trophy, and how long fans have been waiting. It is the insidiousness of sportswashing, in some ways: on one side is the innocent emotion of the fans, on the other are the complex powers that seek to use it.

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Newcastle's away kit carries the flag colours of Saudi Arabia, the nation of their owners (Getty Images)

But… this isn’t exactly new. Another state-linked ownership, in Manchester City, has won more trophies over a shorter time than any other club in English history. Even Newcastle’s ownership has been completely normalised, just by the club playing games every week. You only have to count how many times it is mentioned in media coverage. That’s how it works: the genuinely historic significance of such developments is consequently diluted.

Eddie Howe’s squad, understandably, won’t be considering any of this. They’ll be focusing on a match that is singularly important to their careers.

All of that is why Newcastle, rather than Liverpool, really frame the story of this final. It isn’t completely simple for Liverpool, either, mind. This isn’t just a case of turning up and going through the motions of trying to win a trophy they have won before.

For one, it would be Arne Slot’s first trophy at the club, and the first outside his native Netherlands. That matters, especially amid the growing sense that this is the proper start of a new era completely separate from Jurgen Klopp’s. It would bolster the club’s sense of identity, too, since he would be a 14th manager winning major silverware and making it 48 such victories at that.

A trophy is also worth celebrating in itself, no matter what it is. You never know when bad times are around the corner.

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Eddie Howe (centre) is seeking his first trophy as a coach; Arne Slot (right) wants his first as Liverpool manager (Getty Images)

That may affect the legacy of the season, too. Liverpool are virtually certain to win their 20th league title and that will be glorious no matter how it happens. They still have to make sure they actually do it, and a trophy would offer crucial emotional momentum just when they look like they are faltering slightly.

What’s more, while any league title is good, it is obviously better to win it with a flourish. Another trophy only adds to that.

There are similar layers to Newcastle’s hopes. While victory on Sunday would be singularly celebrated, and a glorious moment of club history in its own right, it would obviously be important to the future, too. The ambition is for victory to be the start of more. Howe could even point to the first major trophy of his own career, bolstering the idea that something bigger is being built, and he is central to it.

Victory may have more immediate consequences, too. Trophies are that bit more persuasive in trying to keep a player like Alexander Isak at the club for the medium term.

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Fit-again striker Alexander Isak could be key to Newcastle's hopes (Getty Images)

He is fit, at least, meaning a showpiece fixture gets to showcase one of English football’s stars. Isak has been the key player in getting Newcastle this far, and it would be wrong if he wasn’t there to try and finish it. He may even be one of the freshest players on the pitch.

That is another twist in this final. Both clubs are missing numerous usual starters.

The deciding factor may be who can go the longest, rather than who can give their best. Liverpool do have more depth. Newcastle have had a free week. It is likely to be very different to the recent Liverpool win at Anfield, just for the way Howe’s side absolutely go for it. The manager is likely to respond to Slot’s more imposing approach, digging in and making it difficult.

As such, Liverpool may frame the game, even if it is Newcastle who frame the occasion.