Allan Saint-Maximin has raised concerns following Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope red card against Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp’s men ended the Magpies’ 17 game unbeaten run in the English Premier League with a 2-0 goal margin with Nunez and Gakpo on the score sheet on Saturday, 18th of February, 2023.
Liverpool thrashed Newcastle with a great start and the home team were reduced to ten men in the 22 minutes of play when Nick Pope was given a red card.
Allan Saint-Maximin, the 25-year-old France international described the match as a bad day for Newcastle and pointed out that Nick Pope will miss the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, 26th of February, 2023, against Manchester United.
On Saturday evening while Newcastle was losing 2-0 to Liverpool, referee Anthony Taylor showed Pope a red card for a red card offense in the 22nd minute.
The 30-year-old goalkeeper was called for a handball after he miscalculated the trajectory of Alisson’s long pass to Mohammed Salah.
Saint-Maximin said in a statement that; “It’s a very bad day. I feel bad for Nick Pope, he tried to help the team, it’s sad news for the team because he will miss the cup final.”
To honor his efforts to pull the 10 man Magpies back into the game at St. James’ Park, Saint-Maximin was named man of the match.
Fourth-placed Newcastle’s sole league loss up to that point had come at the hands of Liverpool at the tail end of August.
In the 10th minute, Darwin Nunez finished off a long pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
After a concern that the ball had struck Nunez’s arm as he controlled it, VAR reviewed and cleared the goal.
Seven minutes later, Liverpool extended its lead when Cody Gakpo finished off Mohamed Salah’s excellent assist to score a beautiful second goal.
Then, Nick Pope was beaten out of the goal by Alisson Becker’s long clearance.
After attempting to head the ball, he grabbed it with his hand from deep outside his own end.
Despite a strong comeback, where they were thwarted by a combination of the post and Alisson, Newcastle’s damage had already been done.
The English goalie has played in every Newcastle United game this season but one, and he recently had a streak of 10 games without conceding a goal.
The remarkable turn of events means that former Reds goalkeeper Loris Karius might make his return in his first English club game since the 2018 Champions League final when he was widely criticized for a terrible performance.
Liverpool’s attempt to capture Europe’s most important club trophy was derailed when goalkeeper Loris Karius made many costly mistakes which helped Real Madrid to a 3-1 victory.
Karius is now Newcastle United’s top choice ahead of the Cup final, even though he has not played for Newcastle since the German joined in September 2022.
