Unless you were a Sunderland or Liverpool fan, it would have been hard not to have been moved by the scenes that greeted Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup victory earlier this season.
The Magpies’ 2-1 win over Arne Slot’s Premier League champions-in-waiting back in March was the first time that the team had got their hands on a piece of domestic silverware since they beat Manchester City 3-1 in the 1955 FA Cup final.
An estimated 300,000 Newcastle supporters poured onto the streets for the team’s open-top bus parade as one of English football’s more notable trophy droughts was ended.
Bruno Guimaraes on captaining Newcastle to a major trophy
Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes was the player tasked with captaining the Magpies at Wembley and responded by putting in his usual all-action display as goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak sealed the trophy.
So how did it feel to follow in the footsteps of Jimmy Scoular, the Toon skipper way back in 1955 and lead the Magpies to a domestic trophy?
“It’s tough to find the best words to describe this dream I’ve been living,” Guimaraes tells FourFourTwo. “Given Newcastle’s history, tradition and passionate fanbase, 70 years without a domestic trophy was such a long time.
“I think the penny will fully drop when I retire. I’ve been walking on clouds, making the most of this honeymoon with the fans.
“I’ve felt like that since day one at Newcastle, but to become the first captain in 70 years to lift a [domestic] trophy meant the world to me.”
“The parade was mind-blowing: I saw everything from eight-year-old kids to 80-year-olds sobbing, because of what this amazing club gave to them. I saw four people on top of a tree–I was afraid it would come down with them! [Laughs]
“We wanted to win that trophy so much. We really pushed ourselves.”
Guimaraes - who was ranked at no.12 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best Premier League players this season - will be hoping to end the campaign with another celebration, with Newcastle going into the final weekend of the Premier League season knowing that a win over Everton in Sunday afternoon will be enough to secure a Champions League place.
