Tino Livramento put in a sterling performance on his first Newcastle United, keeping one of the country’s best forwards quiet.
Newcastle United supporters have been making the most of a night to remember under the lights at St James’ Park after beating treble-winners Manchester City on Wednesday night.
Many wrote off Eddie Howe’s side ahead of the Carabao Cup meeting with the Premier League Champions but an assured performance and second-half goal from Alexander Isak stunned Pep Guardiola’s men as they crashed out of the competition.
Newcastle United have taken a liking to the domestic tournament under Howe, having enjoyed a cup run all the way to the final at Wembley Stadium last season and are now one step closer to repeating that journey. Familiar foes Manchester United await in the next round.
With the fixtures coming thick and fast between the Premier League and Champions League, the Magpies ushered in changes to manage recoveries with a meeting with Burnley next up on Saturday.
Howe made 10 swaps from the side that started at Bramall Lane for the challenging cup tie. Tino Livramento, Jamaal Lascelles, Paul Dummett and Matt Target made up the back line with Lewis Miley, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton in the middle of the park. Alexander Isak, Jacob Murphy and Lewis Hall made up the front three with Nick Pope continuing in between the sticks.
A number of Magpies stars stepped up to the plate and impressed but supporters were left particularly impressed by summer signing Livramento who was given the tricky task of keeping England international Jack Grealish quiet – which he did with aplomb.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Howe said: “He was [phenomenal]. A very difficult opponent in Jack Grealish, who is an outstanding player. I thought defensively he was very, very good.”
Cheeky Newcastle United supporters online also went about praising Livramento in a humorous way. Popular fan account Toon Polls shared a snap of Grealish alongside a wallet, keys and mobile phone and wrote: “Hello @tino_livramento. These fell out of your pocket as you left St James’ Park, mate.”
Supporters labelled the post ‘top tier comedy’ and ‘love this’ as it garnered nearly 2,500 likes.
