Liverpool: Luis Suarez produced a moment of second-half magic to earn dominant Liverpool a 1-1 draw against Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday. The Uruguay international brought down a 50-yard pass from Jose Enrique on his upper chest and rounded goalkeeper Tim Krul to score Liverpool's equalizer at Anfield in the 67th minute, his seventh league goal of the season.
A point was the least the hosts deserved after over-running Newcastle for long periods, although they fell behind to Yohan Cabaye's excellent volley in the 43rd. Fabricio Coloccini was given a straight red card for a lunge on the effervescent Suarez with six minutes left but Newcastle held on, leaving Liverpool languishing in the bottom half of the standings. Newcastle is 10th.
Steven Gerrard made his 600th appearance for Liverpool and to mark his landmark match, the England captain was presented with a statue of the city's red Liver Bird symbol by former teammate Gary McAllister before kickoff. He was compared to Superman and labeled a "modern great" by Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers in the buildup to the game, but the England captain couldn't inspire his team to successive league wins at Anfield for the first time in 14 months.
Cabaye's superb goal came slightly against the run of play but at a stage when Newcastle finally started to look comfortable after being given the runaround early on. However, despite the silky skills of young winger Raheem Sterling and the hard, direct running of Suarez, Liverpool struggled to produce many efforts on goal. Cabaye showed the hosts how it should be done, bringing down Hatem Ben Arfa's cross to the far post and arrowing an angled volley into the far corner.
Frustration grew inside Anfield in the second half as Nuri Sahin sent a low effort wide just before the hour mark but Suarez brilliantly made the breakthrough. Killing Jose Enrique's searching, long pass on his upper chest, the Uruguay striker took the faintest touch around Krul and tapped the ball into an empty net. Substitute Jonjo Shelvey struck a glaring opening weakly at Krul moments later after more foraging work by Suarez, who then set up a great chance for Sterling but the winger's shot was blocked.
Always at the center of controversy, Suarez was also then the victim of a studs-up tackle by Coloccini that earned the defender a red card, although video replays suggested the Argentine barely connected with his South American counterpart. The final chance of the match inevitably involved Suarez, whose deflected free kick bounced onto the bar and over in injury time.
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