Amen to that. What a player Keegan was, and what a game this was. Neither were perfect but both were utterly enthralling and full of quality.

Thank you for reading and thanks for your emails. Congratulations to both teams and RIP King Kev.

“As a Reds fan, I’ve been following your excellent blog with fear and trepidation as it looked as if Liverpool were heading towards inevitable defeat but when I read about Szobszlai’s equaliser, I let out a yell of delight that took the waitress in my Kenyan travel lodge slightly aback,” emails Colum Fordham. “I think somewhere up there, Kevin Keegan will be smiling at an exciting draw between his two main clubs. RIP King Kevin.”

The xG from today, for those that care about that sort of thing:

Newcastle: 1.43

Liverpool: 2.73

Matthias Jaissle, Newcastle head coach, speaks to Sky Sports:

I’m really happy with that performance. They put their heart on the pitch, that’s not negotiable. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the three points. Our heads are a bit down but we know it’s a huge transition phase. It’s a brave project.

It’s a really soft penalty. I’m not a fan of that. If you give that penalty, there will be so many penalties in the future.

I hope we will do more business before the end of the window. We have some needs and we know that internally.

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola is the next to speak:

I don’t think we deserved to lose. I’m sure we had more chances. In the first half, we didn’t finish anything. We had a lot of ball on the edge. The players coming from the bench gave us energy. The way we want to play, nobody is going to last 90 minutes. That’s why we need that energy from the bench.

The first goal is hard to defend. Elanga is super fast, maybe we should have scored ourselves. The second one is easier to defend. Probably we should have had more bodies, maybe made a foul. Newcastle are one of the fastest team in the league.

Szoboszlai’s penalty was absolutely sensational, I should add. Postage-stamp stuff, and he absolutely wellied it. Hornicek went the right way but had no chance.

Dominik Szoboszlai, Liverpool’s hero, speaks to Sky Sports:

I didn’t even hear the whistle from the ref. I had to look at him to know when it was time [to take the penalty. There were 50,000 people against me, you can’t hear your own words.

To come here is always a tough game, especially first game of the season. They have a great team, a good manager. We have to take the positivity from the game, and move on.

I feel that we could have won, but that’s football. You don’t win easy in the Premier League and they scored two transition goals. We learned that we will never give up, we have to fight. Everyone that comes off the bench, they can make an impact.

Newcastle should be very proud of their display. Their summer so far has been a dismal one, with some of their best players departing. But that was a proper performance, a clear tactical plan that was executed perfectly. Newcastle hustled and pressed, ran their nuts off, and broke with pace and verve and quality. Wissa was excellent, both on and off the ball. Liverpool simply couldn’t get to grips with his guile and nouse in that No 10 role. Ultimately, Newcastle couldn’t hold on. Lewis Hall had a brilliant game but it was a clear penalty.

This was not a vintage Liverpool performance, but credit should go to Andoni Iraola’s side for saving the game, when it looked lost. A draw away to Newcastle is not the worst result, particularly for a side that seems in flux. This was their bench today, at the beginning of the season where injuries and fatigue are minimal: Mamardashvili, Endo, Mac Allister, Tsimikas, Munoz, Araujo, Nyoni, McConnell, Koumas. I’m not not sure that is a squad capable of winning the Premier League again, even if Ekitike and Bradley are out injured.

90+7 min: There is a long delay as Newcastle players try to disrupt and delay. Will Isak take it?! Gakpo has the ball in his hands at the moment. No, it’s going to be Szoboszlai with the penalty.

90+4 min: Newcastle make their final change: Schar for Wissa, who has been the best player on the pitch.

90+3 min: Dedic, another Newcastle debutant, reads Gakpo well and dispossesses the Liverpool winger in a dangerous area, winning a free-kick. These Newcastle fans are cheering everything now. Liverpool’s players look resigned.

90+2 min: Szoboszlai’s corner is punched away by Hornicek. The Newcastle goalkeeper has had an excellent Premier League debut.

90+1 min: Koumas finds space but looks unconvincing as he approaches Newcastle’s box, his deflected shot at least earning Liverpool a corner.

90 min: Five minutes added on.

89 min: It is the home side that look the more dangerous! Murphy flashes a brilliant low cross across the face of Liverpool’s goal. No Newcastle player gambles and the ball flies away from danger.

88 min: Newcastle remain in a mid-block but ready to spring on the counter-attack. Liverpool have possession but look devoid of ideas, particularly with Wirtz off the field.

85 min: As if to accentuate Liverpool’s afternoon, Van Dijk tries one of this trademark diagonal passes, which bounces straight into touch.

83 min: Speaking of left-backs, Lewis Hall has been excellent for Newcastle. He didn’t give Ngumoha an inch and is increasingly winning the duels with Muñoz.

81 min: “Are we sure that Kerkez is better than Robertson (who they got rid of) and is justifying his price tag?” asks Dechlan Brennan.

No, we are not. Although in fairness we should qualify that Prime Robertson was one of the best left-backs of his generation. And I’m not sure there is any left-back in the world that would relish tracking Anthony Elanga for 76 minutes.

79 min: Szoboszlai rattles his free-kick into the Newcastle wall. Those brave, brave boys.

78 min: Murphy’s first action is to leave a couple of studs in Mac Allister’s ankle. Yellow card for the Newcastle substitute. Free-kick for Liverpool in a promising position. The visitors use the break in play to make another change: Gravenberch for Lewis Koumas, a young forward and son of former Wigan midfielder Jason Koumas.

76 min: Newcastle make a double change: Lewis Miley and Anthony Elanga are replaced by Aladji Bamba and Jacob Murphy. Like-for-like changes in central midfield and on the right wing.

74 min: Wissa, arguably the best player on the pitch, wins a foul for Newcastle after slipping past Szoboszlai. Newcastle and their fans are beginning to glance at the clock.

72 min: Muñoz has made a real difference since coming on for Liverpool and he bursts forward from the right wing, feeding Szoboszlai. The ball eventually reaches Kerkez on the left but Liverpool’s left back doesn’t get his cross right. Isak was completely free at the back post and he doesn’t hold back when complaining to his teammate for that delivery.

66 min: Mac Allister has moved to the base of Liverpool’s midfield, with Gravenberch and Szoboszlai slightly more advanced. What that means is that when Newcastle counter-attack, Liverpool’s defensive midfielder is now one of the slowest players in the Premier League. Interesting tinkering from Iraola.

64 min: Jacob Ramsey is booked for a challenge on Isak, but replays show the Newcastle sub took the ball cleanly.

62 min: Two changes for Liverpool: Wirtz, largely ineffective, is hooked after an hour for Mac Allister. Víctor Muñoz, who reportedly was on the verge of signing for Newcastle before joining Liverpool, replaces the disappointing Ngumoha.

60 min: Movement on the Liverpool bench. Iraola has seen enough.

56 min: Newcastle make a substitution: Willock and Ramsey on for Osula and Steur, the latter possibly at fault for not closing down Gakpo for the Liverpool goal. There were just 176 seconds between the Liverpool equaliser and Newcastle’s second goal.

50 min: Ngumoha, given a rare chance in the final third to run at Hall, instead tries to play a pass to the underlapping Frimpong, but instead passes the ball straight out for a Newcastle goal-kick. Eeeeeeesh.

48 min: Wissa shows another deft touch to get away from Gravenberch but the Liverpool midfielder recovers and hooks a foot around the Newcastle forward to make an outstanding tackle.

46 min: Liverpool immediately fashion a corner. They look like they have had a rollicking at half-time. The corner is flicked on at the near post towards Isak at the far … but Hornicek punches clear. That was a crucial intervention with the former Newcastle striker lurking.

Half-time reading: our snazzy men’s transfer interactive, which has news and details of all deals from Europe’s top five leagues, including Curtis Jones’ £25.7m move from Liverpool to Internazionale.

Elsewhere in the Premier League: a chastening afternoon for Aston Villa on the south coast, beaten 4-0 by Brighton.

45 min: One minute added on.

44 min: Liverpool look rather devoid of ideas. There are hopeful crosses, and shots from distance but this isn’t a fluid, attacking Liverpool side that was promised when Iraola joined. Credit must go to Newcastle for making it difficult. The home side have not stopped running, pressing at every opportunity.

42 min: Wissa trips Gravenberch in midfield and is a tad lucky to escape a second yellow card. It wasn’t a bad foul, but he did prevent a Liverpool counter-attack. Wissa receives what surely must be a final warning from Stuart Attwell. It remains 11 versus 11. For now.

40 min: Liverpool have had 10 shots to Newcastle’s five but have only tested Hornicek on one occasion. Much rests for Liverpool on Wirtz and Isak, and both have been quiet in this first 40 minutes.

38 min: The first lull of the game. My fingers hurt.

36 min: “There’ll be a lot of cliches trotted out today about Kevin Keegan, and one of them will no doubt be that he ‘transcended his sport and his nationality’, but looking back, that’s actually true,” emails Justin Kavanagh. “As a schoolboy in Ireland, and definitely NOT a Liverpool fan, I really admired his tenacity and his attitude. I once broke my leg in France, and when the ambulance guys heard me speaking English, the first words out of their mouth was… ‘ahhh, Keveen Keegeen.’ Thanks for the memories Mr. Keegan.”

34 min: Frimpong is a good player, possibly not a right back, but his end product is often left wanting and butchers a Liverpool counter-attack here with a dismal attempt at a cross. Liverpool attackers were lining up at the far post but Frimpong effectively passed it to the nearest Newcastle player.

32 min: Newcastle have a promising free-kick for the latter foul, but Osula mimicks Szoboszlai’s effort by booting it straight into the wall. I’m surprised that Osula – given the No 10 shirt this season, by the way, is on free-kicks for Newcastle.

30 min: Bad news for Liverpool, as both full-backs – Kerkez and Frimpong – are booked within a minute of each other. Elanga will be keen to test Kerkez again, now that the Liverpool left-back is on a yellow.

28 min: Should flag that Wissa was booked for the foul on Szoboszlai that led to the Liverpool free-kick.

26 min: Szoboszlai lines up a long-range free-kick, 30 yards out. This is his sort of range, but Liverpool’s star midfielder pings his shot straight into the Newcastle wall, which stayed strong and in unison.

24 min: Hall leaves Isak in a heap with a robust but reward challenge, which the Newcastle fans celebrate like a goal. The home side break forward, Wissa turning neatly in midfield, before the DR Congo forward feeds Osula with a remarkable trivela pass that Quaresma would have been proud of. Osula bursts onto the through ball but Van Dijk and Alisson just about do enough to prevent Newcastle’s striker from getting a clean shot on goal. The Liverpool captain very nearly put past his own goalkeeper, actually, but Alisson was alert.

22 min: As if to prove my point, Kerkez overlaps Isak and gets free to the byline. The Hungarian has time to look up and zings a low cross towards Wirtz, but Hornicek reads it well to intercept, parrying clear, before Dedic hacks it away.

20 min: Signs of Liverpool life, though. The visitors are now enjoying almost all of the ball and are looking dangerous.

16 min: It’s been a really good start for Newcastle, but four players have particularly caught the eye. Elanga, obviously, but Steur and Hall have looked really tidy and Wissa has looked really busy in that No 10 role.

14 min: Looking back at that goal, Liverpool didn’t do too much wrong, in truth. Kerkez was well positioned and worked his nuts off to try and track Elanga. He simply couldn’t move his legs fast enough.

12 min: After a frenetic five-ish minutes after the goal, Liverpool finally put their foot on the ball and calm things down with a bit of possession.

9 min: Newcastle have a new-found tactic: hoof it over the top to Elanga. The winger looks as though he has Kerkez on toast.

7 min: I’m not sure who the fastest player in the Premier League is these days – Micky van de Ven?! – but Elanga has to be up there. Kerkez is no slouch but he simply could not keep up with the Newcastle winger as he got on the overlap around Osula. Credit to Elanga for the finish, too, it was assured considering he was moving at such speed.

4 min: The Newcastle fans are riding Isak hard, booing his every touch and rejoicing as Hall dispossesses the Swede as the Liverpool striker cuts inside.

2 min: A flowing Liverpool counter-attack starts with an excellent pass from Jacquet into midfield. Wirtz carries it forward, exchanges passes with Gakpo, and the German unleashes a fierce shot on the edge of Newcastle’s box, well blocked.

The tributes to Keegan continue, to the tune of David Bowie’s Heroes, just before the two teams come out onto the tunnel. Newcastle in their abomination barcode of a home shirt – how have they somehow butchered those splendid stripes?! – and Liverpool in a rather smarter red home strip.

There is a minute of applause for Keegan, raucously observed. Twice voted the greatest footballer on the planet, Keegan was a lot more to Newcastle United and Liverpool FC.

“It’s very rare that deaths of famous people affect me, but Keegan was an exception: his passing stayed with me for days afterwards,” emails Chris Paraskevas. “It is difficult to surmise his importance to Newcastle’s history: I only witnessed his last ‘reign’ at the club, when he carried himself with his characteristic dignity and honesty during the Mike Ashley era, so the best parts of his legacy has been passed down or re-lived. His passing has only added to the massive sense of change / foreboding in the offseason, with Eddie Howe’s departure and the club’s plans to ‘be the best in the world by 2030’ revised to ‘best in the world by 3020’ (paraphrasing). When Pierre-Emile Højbjerg is turning you down, you know it’s going to be a rough season.”

Sky Sports have just shown a montage on Kevin Keegan and banners and tifos are now being shown around St James’ Park. I mentioned it earlier but there is a very moving mosaic of shirts on the pitch inside the centre circle – made up of jerseys left outside St James’ Park after the news of his death broke last month. Former players have flown in from all around the globe for his game, including Faustino Asprilla from Colombia.

I regret to inform you that I have gone. Legend is a term that is thrown around a lot, but King Kev was the definition of that word. RIP.

Delving into the Liverpool XI, there are two eye-catching selections.

Firstly, Rio Ngumoha: the 17-year-old looks like he is lining up on the right wing, with Cody Gakpo on the left. After Mo Salah’s departure, Liverpool have struggled to replace him during the transfer window, failing in their attempts to sign PSG’s Bradley Barcola and Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh (the Reds had a £50m bid for the latter turned down on Thursday). There is a real opportunity for Ngumoha to lay down a marker here and claim that spot for his own.

Secondly, Jérémy Jacquet has been chosen to partner Virgil van Dijk in central defence, despite the recent loan arrival of Ronald Araújo from Barcelona. Jacquet was really impressive in pre-season after his £60m move from Rennes was confirmed this summer. There are high hopes for the 20-year-old but many a promising young centre-back has come unstuck on his debut.

Newcastle’s new head coach, Matthias Jaissle, speaks to Sky Sports:

It’s a transition phase. It’s a huge challenge. There will be some activities – hopefully – in the transfer market in the next week. But we are going to go for it [today], we will go all in. As soon as I saw Lewis Miley on the pitch, I was falling in love. He had a brilliant training week, we have to see if he’s ready for 90 minutes.

Here is a taste of some of the tributes to Kevin Keegan in and around St James’ Park.

Trailing 1-0 with six minutes to go in normal time, Manchester City have just beaten Bournemouth 2-1. Join Emillia Hawkins for live reaction.

There has been a goal at the Etihad to set up a tense finish between Manchester City and Bournemouth. Join our MBM for the latest.

Newcastle’s top-four chance creators from last season all have left the club. The club made well over £200m from the sales of Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães but it’s interesting that summer arrivals Bazoumana Touré (signed for £43m from Hoffenheim) and Aladji Bamba (signed for £30m from Monaco) are not in Jaissle’s XI today. Where are the goals going to come from?

Here is Louise Taylor’s preview. And yes, it is on Alexander Isak.

Almost a year ago to the day, Newcastle’s first home match last season was also against Liverpool. With Alexander Isak holed up in his Northumberland mansion 10 miles south of St James Park’ as he attempted to force through a move to Liverpool, Newcastle conceded a 100th-minute winner, scored expertly by the Reds’ teenage star Rio Ngumoha.

A lot will depend on if Liverpool do any more business for wide players in this window (and how much Iraola trusts new signing Víctor Muñoz, who looks very promising) but this could possibly be a huge season for Ngumoha. The English winger has it all, he just needs the opportunities to prove it.