Although Newcastle United were deserved winners against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, there were still one or two contentious moments in the match.
Perhaps some Newcastle fans will feel as if their side won the game quite comfortably – Liverpool failed to show up at Wembley and Eddie Howe’s team executed their game plan perfectly.
In fact, Dan Burn was shocked by Alexis Mac Allister’s marking when put Newcastle 1-0 ahead, a mismatch of the ages.
However, with the game still poised at 0-0 in the 41st minute, Liverpool did have a big shout for a penalty when the ball made contact with Kieran Trippier’s arm in the box.
Trippier was tracking Luis Diaz’s run into Newcastle’s box and the ball appeared to hit his hand when misjudged the flight of the ball.
Gary Lineker and Micah Richard discuss Kieran Trippier handball claim
Interestingly, both Gary Lineker and Micah Richards shared their thoughts on the incident on ‘The Rest Is Football’ podcast.
And whilst neither pundit jumped to call Stuart Attwell’s or VAR’s decision a mistake, both could see justification for a penalty being awarded.
Richards began: “Well, I was looking at that a couple of times. Did it just touch his hand?
Lineker replied: “The thing was, his hand was away from his body. I mean, personally, I think if they’d give penalties for that sort of thing, but it’s ludicrous, but they do, but they do, you know, sometimes.
“We saw it in the Champions League final when Tottenham played Liverpool, didn’t win that first minute and the hand went up in the air. And so, you know, we have seen those entirely accidental handballs.
“But when I saw the replay, I thought, oh, they might give this.”
Richards: “I did actually, I was like, oh, what’s happening here? Then it just went on, didn’t it? So yeah, I agree with you.
“If it had been given, no one could complain about it, but it wasn’t, it’s one of those things.”
What VAR said about Liverpool’s penalty claim
Speaking during Sky Sports’ broadcast of the game, Gary Neville actually shared why VAR decided not to interfere with the referee’s call.
Neville said: “It definitely hit Trippier’s hand, we can see that from up here. VAR is saying his arms are out for balance, which takes it away from Diaz.
“In Europe, I think it is probably given as a penalty.”
A contentious moment, but not one that should take away from Newcastle’s win in the slightest.
Burn was absolutely brilliant in particular for Howe’s side, who deserve to win a trophy for their efforts over the past few seasons.
