Twitter reacts as Liverpool surrender two goal lead against relegation-threatened Newcastle

Liverpool throw away a two goal lead to let Newcastle leave Anfield with a crucial point in their fight for Premier League survival. In an emotional return to Anfield, Rafa Benitez engineered a comeback with his Newcastle side, reminiscent of his good old days at Merseyside.

Liverpool came into this fixture at the back of three consecutive victories, one of which was a thrashing of their Merseyside rivals Everton in a 4-0 rout. This game also marked an emotional return to Anfield for Magpies’ boss Rafa Benitez who shares many fond memories from his time at the club. The Kop sung out Rafa’s name in full voice and just as the Spaniard waved his hand at the stands in acknowledgement, the Reds found themselves ahead through Daniel Sturridge. Supremely high on confidence, the Merseysiders started in typically devastating fashion with the in-form England international scoring in just 67 seconds with a well driven low shot creeping past Darlow.

The Reds then doubled their lead through Adam Lallana, who curled a shot from the edge of the box leaving no chance for the Newcastle goalkeeper. The quality of Lallana’s goal summed up an authoritative half of football from Liverpool.

Liverpool have time and again thrown away points from winning positions this season, with today’s capitulation taking that tally to 17 dropped points for the season. A poorly read cross saw the Belgian goalkeeper Simon Mignolet come in to punch the Anita’s ball away only to miss and hand Papiss Cisse with an open goal to head into.

With less than half an hour to play, Jack Colback equalized for Newcastle after a shot from the edge of the box took a wicked deflection off Lovren and away from Mignolet.

Liverpool will have to recover quickly from this result as they prepare for the visit to Spain in the massive Europa League semi-final game against Villarreal at the Estadio El Madrigal.