Millions of people tuned in to watch Newcastle United defeat Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Sunday.
It still doesn’t quite feel real for Newcastle United after they finally ended their 70-year trophy drought by defeating Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.
Dan Burn and Alexander Isak scored the crucial goals to send Newcastle fans so wild that Wembley shook, with Federico Chiesa’s late strike only serving to fray some nerves in the final minutes.
Wild celebrations followed on Sunday night before several members of the squad linked up with their national sides for the international break.
Burn, who admits he still feels numb from the final, has joined Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad after being called up for the first time in his career at 32.
It wasn’t just Toon fans who tuned in for Sunday’s historic final, though, as the EFL have revealed some extraordinary viewing figures.
Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images
Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images
8 million viewers watched the Carabao Cup final
The EFL released a statement on Monday announcing that the domestic UK TV audience for the final peaked at just shy of 8 million viewers, with 7.9 million.
The UK live audience across the entire 90 minutes averaged out at 6.3m in addition to the 88,513 people who watched at Wembley and those in 193 other countries the match was also broadcasted in.
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The EFL credits the huge success to the ‘ground-breaking’ joint broadcasting agreement between Sky Sports and ITV, who both televised the match simultaneously.
In addition, every match in the competition was televised and that didn’t lead to reduced attendances, with it being claimed that more people went to watch League Cup games than ever before.
Trevor Birch, EFL CEO said: “The attendance and viewership numbers for Sunday’s Final demonstrate the continued popularity of the Carabao Cup, and the value the competition holds in the football calendar for supporters up and down the country and across the world.
“It was a fitting finale to a wonderful season of Carabao Cup football, and I’d like to thank each of Sky Sports, ITV and our international broadcast partners for making it such a success.”
Dan Burn still can’t believe Carabao Cup win
Speaking during his first press conference as an England representative on Tuesday, Burn admitted he still can’t quite believe Newcastle won the cup.
He said: “Sunday definitely hasn’t sunk in. I don’t think it will for a long time.
“I spoke about it after the game, I still feel pretty numb about it all.
“I really want to feel something but currently my focus is completely on what I can do here for England and how I can help.”