Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimarães has hailed forward Alexander Isak as the “best striker around” after the Sweden international helped propel his team to the Carabao Cup final with a 4-0 aggregate win over Arsenal.
Isak scored both of Newcastle’s goals in the 2-0 first-leg victory and excelled once again on Wednesday, seeing a goal disallowed for a tight offside decision in the opening minutes of the game and playing a big role in the Jacob Murphy‘s opener.
Isak spun Arsenal’s centre-back William Saliba with some smart combination play with Anthony Gordon before lashing a powerful strike that bounced off David Raya‘s post and into the path of Murphy, who placed it into the empty net.
“For me he’s the best striker around,” Guimaraes said of his striker. “Nobody is performing better than him. We are lucky to have him and I hope he can keep it going.”
The comfortable aggregate victory means Newcastle have reached the final of this competition for the second time in three seasons as they look to end a trophy drought that dates back to 1969.
“It would be a dream to lift a trophy and put my name in the club’s history,” midfielder Guimarães said of the chance to go one better than in 2023, when they were beaten by Manchester United. “It would be amazing in my first season as captain.”
Head coach Eddie Howe also talked up the prospect of ending the hoodoo and building on that painful experience.
“The first Wembley was brilliant, a bit unexpected, but we need to be there regularly,” Howe said. “We need to feel like we’re there on merit, it’s not a surprise. We are there on merit, our run has not been easy this year, we’ve faced four Premier League teams, so we have done the hard yards.”
Newcastle will face one of Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur in the final at Wembley Stadium on March 16. Spurs hold a 1-0 lead heading into the second leg, which takes place at Anfield on Thursday.