Newcastle players furious with Andrew Madley after controversial decision in the final moments vs Liverpool

Newcastle United players and fans were left seething with referee Andrew Madley after he made a controversial call in the final moments of their match against Liverpool.

On Wednesday night, Premier League leaders Liverpool travelled to St. James' Park looking to continue their fine form under new boss Arne Slot.

Newcastle went ahead after 35 minutes thanks to Alexander Isak before Curtis Jones equalised in the 50th minute.

Anthony Gordon then put the Magpies back ahead but Mohamed Salah scored twice in the 68th and 83rd minute to make it 3-2.

However, Slot's men failed to hold on as a howler by Reds goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher allowed Fabian Schar to score and salvage a 3-3 draw.

Deep into stoppage time, Newcastle went on a counter attack but referee Madley blew the final whistle, leaving players and fans fuming.

The allocated stoppage time was five minutes and when Isak had the ball across the halfway line, the clock was at 95:10.

After Madley blew the whistle, the likes of Schar, Nick Pope and Bruno Guimaraes were seen venting their frustrations at the official.

As a result, goalkeeper Pope received a yellow card for his protest. You can watch the incident below.

Speaking after the match, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe revealed he was surprised by Madley's decision to blow the final whistle so soon.

He said: "I was surprised by the final whistle because I think we’d spent around two minutes on a free-kick in extra-time, so I was expecting seven minutes to be played.

"I think it was 5.15 when he’s blown, so that was a blow because it looked like we were in a good position."

Howe also stated that his team should have been given a penalty when Isak went down after a challenge by Jarell Quansah and that Reds captain Virgil van Dijk was perhaps lucky to escape a red card for a robust shoulder barge on Gordon.

He added: "I thought it was a penalty on Alex, but I haven’t seen a replay, that was just an initial thought.

"Then, I think VAR looked at (the van Dijk on Gordon incident) and concluded nothing happened, so we have to accept it. I was surprised by it initially though."

Newcastle will be back in Premier League action this weekend when they take on Brentford on Saturday afternoon.

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