Gary Neville fumes at VAR after late call in Newcastle’s Carabao Cup Final triumph

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 an age to make the decision,” the former Manchester United captain said during Sky Sports’ coverage. “Scared of their own shadow now to make a mistake.”

Ultimately, Chiesa’s goal didn’t affect the final result. Newcastle led 2-0 at the time, with Dan Burn and Alexander Isak on target, and survived what ended up being more than 10 added minutes to hold out for victory and their first major domestic trophy in 70 years.

“It was his [Dan Burn’s] game,” Isak told Sky Sports. “He is brilliant. If he can score goals then great but it’s the way he defends. That sets the foundation for us.

“This is really just the start. We will see more from the fans and what it means for the people when we get back to Newcastle. We are all aware of how long it’s been for the fans without a trophy.”

Do you agree with Gary Neville’s VAR take? Have your say in the comments section

Liverpool’s defeat meant manager Arne Slot will need 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 result and the performance you might feel it maybe did something to us, but I prefer to look at how the game went. And this game went exactly the way they wanted it to be: a fight with a lot of duels and a lot of duels through 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.”

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