Darwin Nunez scored twice off the bench as 10-man Liverpool rallied from a goal down to defeat Newcastle 2-1 at St. James' Park on Sunday.
Anthony Gordon had capitalized on a Trent Alexander-Arnold error to put the Magpies ahead before Virgil van Dijk was sent off for pulling down Alexander Isak within half an hour.
Newcastle, though, failed to capitalize on their man advantage and were punished when Nunez produced two rare moments of greatness in his Liverpool career to turn the game on its head.
Just over a year ago, Liverpool paid a club-record £85 million for Nunez. Still, the Uruguayan has fallen behind Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo in the race to be Jurgen Klopp's chosen number nine.
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Nunez came off the bench 13 minutes from time and made the most of his chance, being released behind the Newcastle defense twice and both times, keeping his nerve to fire low and hard beyond Nick Pope.
The win maintains Liverpool two points behind leaders Manchester City and sets an early tone after Newcastle usurped the Reds to secure Champions League football last season.
Liverpool were fortunate not to be down a man after only six minutes.
Alexander-Arnold had already been cautioned for a throw-away when he tripped Gordon as the Newcastle player tore down the left wing.
To the surprise of the home fans and the Newcastle bench, referee John Brooks did not issue a second yellow card.
Klopp sent Joe Gomez out to warm up to replace Alexander-Arnold to keep him out of further problems.
The Liverpool manager may have wished he had made that change. Alexander-Arnold's failure to control Mohamed Salah's ball allowed Gordon to run clean on goal and score his second goal for Newcastle since joining Everton for £45 million in January.
On 28 minutes, Brooks produced a red card, Van Dijk's first of his Liverpool career, and things went from bad to worse for the Reds.
When the Liverpool captain kicked through Isak on the area's outskirts, he was deemed to have prevented a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Only Alisson Becker's brilliant save of Miguel Almiron's powerfully hit volley against the crossbar kept Liverpool in the game before halftime.
After the break, Almiron came even closer with some mesmeric wing play that scythed through the Liverpool defense, only for his shot to come back off the post.
In a thrilling conclusion, Newcastle was forced to pay for failing to extend their advantage.
Nunez hammered a shot into the far corner nine minutes from time after Sven Botman failed to deal with Jota's forward play.
Salah has remained mostly silent throughout the week that he was linked with joining the players fleeing European football for Saudi Arabia.
However, three minutes into stoppage time, the Egyptian produced when his pass put Nunez in the clear once more to deliver the most telling goal of his Liverpool career so far.
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