Newcastle were sent out of the League Cup in the second round on Wednesday night as they lost 4-2 to Leicester on penalties.
James Maddison gave Leicester the lead, before Yoshi Muto equalised for Newcastle and sent the game through to spot-kicks.
There was one moment in the game, though, which was rife with controversy. Hamza Choudhury clattered into Matt Ritchie, forcing the Newcastle midfielder to leave the pitch with an injury and ending with a yellow card for the Leicester man.
These Newcastle fans reacted to the challenge on Twitter…
Dangerous!
Twitter: Sounds to me like we’ve had the better half, Leicester ahead with a deflected free kick. The Choudhury tackle looked dangerous. #NUFC (@JordanRobson)
VAR should have been there…
Twitter: VAR should have been there last night. It should atleast be at all premier league grounds no matyer what the compet… https://t.co/BZUfrKTbn6 (@ToonTweets16)
A horror tackle…
Twitter: Ritchie was injured by a horror tackle from Choudhury. #NUFC . Bruce clearly thinks he is out for a while. (@zhorze)
Strong…
Twitter: In first half stoppage-time, Ritchie has been forced off after a strong challenge from Choudhury that earned a free… https://t.co/vBjIW1koal (@paulfraserecho)
READ NEWCASTLE VERDICT
Would Choudhury have been sent off with VAR?
It is quite possible. It was a dangerous, reckless, challenge by the young English midfielder. However, VAR has set a high standard for overturning decisions by the onfield referee and he decided that the tackle was only worthy of a yellow card.
This means that it would be a subjective call by the referee in the VAR van on whether or not to give Choudhury a red card, which makes it difficult to say with certainty either way.
