SANDRO TONALI finally took centre stage at Newcastle – and you can bet your bottom dollar he has the Toon Army dreaming of silverware.
The Magpies, who have not lifted a domestic trophy since 1955, are a step closer after the Italian single-handidly downed Brentford.
And it could prove to be a fairytale finish if the second coming of the Italian Stallion on Tyneside keeps producing nights like this.
The midfielder, 24, scored his first goals since his debut in August 2023 and has had to wait since then for a performance as magical as this.
Newcastle forked out £55million to bring Tonali to Tyneside to help them end their long drought for a cup.
That momentum from his brilliant scoring bow quickly evaporated when he was hit with a ten-month betting ban.
Now he is back and ready to repay the faith and support from Newcastle and their fans by delivering the Carabao Cup.
Less than ten minutes were on the clock when Tino Liramento’s low cross from the right was cleared to the edge of the area by the Bees’ backline.
But it was met by the charging Tonali, and he drilled home from 20 yards to send St James’ Park wild.
The party, however, threatened to be pooped big style when Yoane Wissa was picked out by Kevin Schade in the Newcastle box.
The Brentford forward attempted to go round Toon goalie Martin Dubravka, who got a touch to the ball, and threw himself to the ground but the ref was having none of it and with no VAR play continued.
And the nightmare start soon got even worse for Thomas Frank with the Brentford boss now looking set to be without TWO defenders for the festive period.
Sepp van den Berg pulled out of the starting XI with an injury in the warm-up, replaced by Nathan Collins, and then Ethan Pinnock hobbled off.
And only a lengthy stoppage for Joelinton to receive treatment for a nasty cut on his mouth stopped the hosts from building up a head of steam.
But after both Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon had curled wide, it was time for Tonali to get his adoring public back on their feet.
Gordon floated a corner in, and with the Bees defence too busy trying to block Joelinton, Tonali had the freedom of the Leazes End to nip in and volley home unmarked.
The main man then linked up with Bruno Guimaraes and teed up Murphy, but the woodwork denied him a third before the break.
In truth, apart from Tonali, there was not much quality on display and Brentford failed to offer much after the restart.
They did give Newcastle one scare as Keane Lewis-Potter got away from Livramento and forced Dubravka into action at his near post.
Up the other end, Murphy curled another wide after a brilliant move but Toon eventually got a third as the Bees threw in the towel with just over 20 to go.
Lewis Hall’s shot was saved after a corner routine, but Bruno reacted quickest and unselfishly rolled the ball across for Fabian Schar to tap home into an empty net.
Unfortunately for the Swiss defender and captain Bruno both had already been booked for first half challenges on Fabio Carvalho and Ben Mee respectively.
And in what was the only sour point of the evening, which nearly got better as sub Harvey Barnes was prevented a fourth by the woodwork, that means the key pair will both be suspended for the semi-final first-leg next month.
Brentford pulled one back right at the death as Yoane Wissa finished off a counter – but nothing was stopping Tonali from being the talk of the Toon.
