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Phil Thompson helped Liverpool beat Newcastle in the 1974 FA Cup Final and says Arne Slot’s side should be wary of the Toon on Sunday
Phil Thompson says Liverpool facing Newcastle at Wembley will always remind him of his favourite game for the Reds.
Thompson was just 20 when he snuffed out the considerable threat posed by Newcastle ’s England striker Malcom Macdonald to help Liverpool win the 1974 FA Cup Final 3-0. Although Thompson went on to captain his boyhood club to the 1981 European Cup, he always remembers this game because it was the making of him at Anfield.
“People often ask me ‘what’s your most-memorable moment?’,” he told Mirror Sport. “Probably my most-personal moment was 81, captaining Liverpool against Real Madrid in Paris to win the European Cup, captaining your home-town club.
“But it wasn’t the game or the performance, whereas the 74 Cup Final I thought was one of those games which was the making of me. I was a Liverpool fan and I’d only just turned 20 in the January and it was an absolutely huge game for me, playing in an FA Cup Final.
“To play so well and get the man of the match in so many of the papers, even though Kevin Keegan scored twice, but I kept Malcolm Macdonald quiet, I think all that makes it the game for me. Malcolm, in the Press in the week before, was saying what John Tudor, his strike partner, and him were going to do to Emlyn Hughes and myself.
“I think the cutting was one of the first times I remember it being put up on our notice board and it was a red rag to a bull. If you could go back and replay one game in our career, that would be the game for me because we played so well and played such great football.”
Champions-elect and holders Liverpool are favourites to beat Newcastle and lift a record 11th Carabao Cup. But Thompson, who led the Reds to their first success over West Ham in 1981, says Arne Slot ’s side must be wary of Newcastle, who have been weakened by injury and suspension.
He says Eddie Howe’s men can take inspiration from the Reds’ extra-time win over Chelsea in last season’s final. The odds turned against injury-hit Liverpool as they lost more players during the game and they needed their kids to see them over the line to victory in Jurgen Klopp ’s final success at Anfield.
“I’ve always been happy with a 1-0 win or 2-1, I don’t get carried away,” he said. “I certainly don’t get carried away by the injuries Newcastle have had and the suspension to Anthony Gordon, who’s always a thorn in our side.
“I relate to Chelsea versus Liverpool last year and that would be my first port of call, remember that game last year. How much we were disrupted by injuries, how we had to play so many kids that we became underdogs as the game went on and how we responded. That’s how Newcastle could play. That could be inspiration for Newcastle. “So we have to be at our best to win this game.”
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