Newcastle United beat Liverpool to win the Carabao Cup final at Wembley but the Magpies’ 2-1 victory wasn’t without its VAR drama – to the frustration of Gary Neville
Gary Neville wasn’t best pleased with the time it took for VAR to award Liverpool’s late goal in the Carabao Cup final.
Federico Chiesa was initially flagged offside as he slotted the ball beyond Nick Pope during second-half stoppage-time at Wembley. After a lengthy check, though, the Italian’s goal was ruled to be legal.
Neville has been vocal about some refereeing calls already this season. In this instance, though, he argued the issue was not a mistake per se but rather the fear of making one.
“VAR took a long time to make the decision,” the former Manchester United captain said during Sky Sports coverage. “Scared of their own shadow now to make a mistake.”
Finally, Chiesa’s goal had little effect on the final score. Newcastle led 2-0 at the time, with goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak, and held on for victory and their first major domestic title in 70 years, despite more than 10 more minutes.
“It was his [Dan Burn’s] game,” Isak explained to Sky Sports. “He’s brilliant.” If he can score goals, that’s wonderful, but it’s how he defends. That establishes the groundwork for us.
“This is really just the beginning.” When we return to Newcastle, we’ll learn more about the supporters and what it means for them. We’re all aware of how long the fans have been without a trophy.
Following Liverpool’s defeat, manager Arne Slot will have to wait for his first trophy. The Reds remain top of the Premier League, but the reverse at Wembley caps a painful week which also saw them eliminated from the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain.
“The game was slow and not intense, so it’s difficult to judge for me if we were physically ready,” Slot said. “Mentally, that’s always a difficult one.
“If you look at the outcome and performance, you might think it influenced us, but I prefer to look at how the game played out. And the game turned out precisely how they had hoped: a combat with a lot of duels, including duels in the air.
“And if we play 10 times a game of football through the air against them, they win it probably nine times because they are a stronger team through the air than us, which led to the first goal and the second goal because the second goal was also a header that they won at the second post that fell for Isak and led to the 2-0.”
