Mark Clattenburg pinpoints 'critical' VAR moment that cost Liverpool and benefitted Newcastle

Liverpool went down 2-1 to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley

Mark Clattenburg has claimed that Liverpool were hindered by VAR in their Carabao Cup final defeat. The Reds went down 2-1 to Newcastle United at Wembley in their final match before the international break.

The runaway Premier League leaders were far from at their best and could have had no complaints after England new boy Dan Burn and Sweden star Alexander Isak put Newcastle into a commanding two-goal lead.

There appeared no way back for the out-of-sorts Reds until Federico Chiesa, one of their few bright sparks, collected a pass from fellow substitute Harvey Elliott and slotted past Nick Pope to halve the deficit in injury-time.

The goal was originally flagged for offside. And even though replays soon showed it was onside, it took a lengthy VAR check for the initial decision to be overturned.

And that suited Newcastle, says former Premier League referee Clattenburg. Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate brought to you by Sky Bet, the Magpies fan said: "I’ll always say it (VAR) is killing the emotion of the game.

"That Liverpool player (Federico Chiesa) should be allowed to celebrate his goal, even though he doesn’t really want to celebrate because he wants to get the ball back to the halfway line.

"That critical moment suited Newcastle, in a way. Liverpool were just inserting a bit of pressure, and the pressure has just been released by that VAR decision. It allowed Newcastle to regroup. It was probably benefitting Newcastle, not Liverpool."

The Reds will look to bounce back when they welcome Everton to Anfield for the final Merseyside derby of the season on April 2. Victory will move Arne Slot's side a big step closer to the club's first Premier League since 2020.

Clattenburg, meanwhile, spoke about a run-in he had with Slot's successor as Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.

It came in April 2014, when Klopp was in charge of Borussia Dortmund and they had lost 3-0 to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Clattenburg, who referred the match, said: "I had a big run-in with Jurgen, and I was lucky because it was at Real Madrid, and he was the Dortmund manager, and they’d just been beaten 3-0.

“I thought I had a good game. It was Marcelo, the (Madrid) full-back, crazy, but he says, ‘Can I have a picture?’. I’m like, ‘What with me?’ and he said, ‘yeah, can I have a picture?’. Referees never get pictures with players.

“I said, ‘yeah, of course’. And I’m standing outside my dressing room, and his wife was there and some of his family and Jurgen came past, and he went, ‘Is that why we got beat 3-0?’

“I turned around and I said, ‘you’re f***** lucky that you got beat 3-0, f*** off’. Everybody laughed, you know what I mean, but I was pleased I was in Real Madrid and not Dortmund, because I would have had to get out of Dortmund alive."