Howe hails ‘colossus’ Burn as Newcastle break new ground with EFL Cup triumph

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe hailed man of the match Dan Burn as a “colossus” and declared that his side had broken new ground with their 2-1 win over Liverpool in the EFL Cup final.

The Magpies ended their 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy, and 56-year wait for a major trophy of any kind, as a header from Burn and a superb close-range strike from Alexander Isak secured a deserved victory at Wembley, despite a stoppage-time goal from Federico Chiesa halving the lead and fraying Newcastle nerves.

Burn, called up to the England squad for the first time at the age of 32, was outstanding in blunting the Liverpool attack alongside fellow centre-back Fabian Schar, and Howe was quick to praise the local hero as his side celebrated writing their names into Newcastle folklore.

“I am very very emotional and been all day which is unlike me,” Howe told Sky Sports. “We knew what was at stake today for all of our fans, we wanted to do them proud and win the trophy.

“I am so, so pleased with the result and the performance – we deserved to win today.

The BOSS. 🫶 pic.twitter.com/hdP2vz2Wlz

— Newcastle United (@NUFC) March 16, 2025

“It was tough when Liverpool scored. I was thinking about extra time, we always make it difficult for ourselves it was never going to be 2-0.”

“We were well aware of the history and we wanted to do the club proud. We wanted to score, we wanted to perform and we wanted to win.

“We are breaking new ground, I thought we were magnificent today.

Just a lad from Blyth 🥹

Dream big. pic.twitter.com/saxddgHPBu

— Newcastle United (@NUFC) March 16, 2025

“We couldn’t believe Dan Burn scored – he didn’t train like that! He was a colossus for us.”

Newcastle had suffered a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on February 26 in the Premier League. Asked about that game, Howe had admitted he had deliberately refused to show his cards in a contest in which his team were much less ambitious.

Howe was ultimately proven to have the perfect gameplan, his more direct style and his side’s energy and pressing helping stifle English football’s most feared attack.

“Both teams were quite direct and we dealt with that really well,” added Howe.

“Nobody wanted to make a mistake, there wasn’t much pretty football played but we were effective in both boxes.

“We didn’t want to show our hand when we played them a few weeks ago, we still wanted to win that game we just did it in a different way.”

But Howe would not be drawn on talk of his legacy and where Newcastle could go from here, with the Magpies still in the hunt for Champions League qualification via the Premier League.

“I want to enjoy it first,” said Howe. “I am always about tomorrow but I’ll put the coaching books away for a few days.”