Liverpool took a festive trip to the north east aiming to stay top of the Premier League tree.
Rafael Benitez’s charges knocked heavily on Newcastle’s door for half an hour; however, Given repelled chance after chance.
And then the breakthrough came. Yossi Benayoun cut a pass back towards the penalty spot, where Steven Gerrard was poised to leather the ball into the right-hand corner.
Gerrard turned provider five minutes later, assisting Sami Hyypia with an out-swinging corner. The Finland international’s powerful header flew beyond Given.
Defender David Edgar rose highest moments before the break to give Newcastle an injection of hope, towering over a plethora of red shirts in the penalty area to place his headed effort into the back of the net.
But after half-time, the Reds applied the pressure, and when a scuffle to clear the ball ensued in the home penalty area, Ryan Babel found the time and composure to net a third.
Gerrard’s stellar performance continued when Lucas Leiva’s pass released him beyond the Magpies’ back line. He bore down on goal before dinking the ’keeper for 4-1.
And when substitute David Ngog was felled in the Magpies’ box by Edgar, up stepped Xabi Alonso to power the penalty to Given’s right and add gloss to a memorable showing.
Newcastle 0-6 Liverpool – April 27, 2013
Brendan Rodgers’ Reds entered this game with relatively little on the line, situated seventh in the table as the season petered out.
But they flew from the blocks on Tyneside as Daniel Agger scored in the third minute, a looping header from Stewart Downing’s cross after a catalogue of failed clearances by the hosts.
Jordan Henderson extended the lead when Philippe Coutinho’s perfectly weighted through ball found Daniel Sturridge, who passed around Rob Elliot into the scorer’s path.
Sturridge got his own name on the scoresheet in the second half after more Coutinho wizardry, and a fourth goal – again from the January signing – duly followed. But Liverpool weren’t finished.
Fabio Borini netted within two minutes of coming on as a substitute, stabbing home with the outside of his boot, and the sixth and final goal of the day was a second for Henderson, who converted a free-kick from the left-hand side of the box.
In hindsight, the result offered a sign of things to come. In the next season the Reds would go within a whisker of Premier League glory, playing the kind of free-flowing football that floored Newcastle here.
