John Brooks has been announced as the referee for Liverpool’s Carabao Cup final face-off against Newcastle United – a fixture in which he previously sent off Virgil van Dijk.
Brooks will be at the heart of the action for the Wembley showdown on Sunday, March 16, with the Reds gunning for their record-extending 11th win of the competition.
This marks the second time Brooks has officiated a match between Liverpool and Newcastle, having presided over the Premier League clash at St James’ Park in August 2023. A late double from substitute Darwin Nunez clinched an unexpected 2-1 victory for the Reds, who played for over an hour with just 10 men after Van Dijk was shown red for denying Alexander Isak a scoring opportunity.
The Liverpool captain was automatically suspended for one match and subsequently banned for an additional game and fined by the Football Association after initially refusing to leave the pitch and then arguing with referee Brooks and fourth official Craig Pawson.
Since then, Brooks has refereed four more Reds matches, the most recent being the 2-1 home Premier League victory over Chelsea in October.
The fourth official at Wembley will be Darren England, who was the VAR for Liverpool’s contentious match against Tottenham Hotspur in September 2023 when a Luis Diaz goal was awarded but didn’t make it to the scoresheet.
England wasn’t involved in another Reds game that season but most recently refereed the 2-0 victory at Bournemouth in February.
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Stuart Attwell, who officiated when Liverpool clinched the League Cup final in 2022, is the VAR. He was also the referee for the semi-final first leg at Tottenham in January, where he upset Reds boss Arne Slot by not sending off home midfielder Lucas Bergvall just before he scored the winning goal.
Meanwhile, the FA has written its reasons for banning Arne Slot following the recent Merseyside derby draw with Everton. Slot was furious at the final whistle and confronted referee Michael Oliver.
It is alleged by Oliver that Slot swore at him and claimed he would point the finger of blame at the official, should his Liverpool side not go on to win the Premier League this season.
