Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles has criticised Arsenal counterpart Jorginho for refusing to shake hands following Saturday’s Premier League clash.
The Magpies defeated the Gunners 1-0 at St James’ Park in controversial circumstances after VAR ruled in favour of awarding Anthony Gordon’s second-half winner.
VAR carried out three separate checks in order to approve the goal. The first was to see whether Joe Willock had managed to keep the ball in play after it appeared to have gone behind for a goal kick at certain angles, but there was insufficient proof that it completely crossed the white line.
The second check was for a foul by Joelinton on Gabriel Magalhaes after the former shoved the latter in the back to win a header which led to Gordon’s finish. This subjective check ruled that a clear and obvious error had not been made by referee Stuart Attwell.
The final check was in regards to whether Gordon was standing in an offside position as he was beyond goalkeeper David Raya but seemingly behind the ball and Gabriel when Joelinton heads it across the six-yard box. Once again, a lack of insufficient evidence due to the lack of requisite camera angles ensured that the goal stood.
Saturday’s match was a feisty affair, with both Kai Havertz and Bruno Guimaraes being spared red cards in the first half following brief VAR checks. Havertz had flown into a challenge on Sean Longstaff and was only shown a yellow card despite Newcastle’s protests, while Guimaraes smashed the back of Jorginho’s head with his forearm, but both were spared dismissals.
Jorginho then refused to shake the hands of some opposition players post-match, while most of Arsenal’s players made quick getaways back down the tunnel.
When asked if he was pleased to eek out such a win, Newcastle skipper Lascelles said: “Yeah, and especially how they go on as well. I’m just so glad that we beat them. Their captain, Jorginho, didn’t want to shake my hand after the game.
“I was fuming, it’s not on. I would never refuse to shake an opposition captain’s hand, no way. You can have as many arguments as you want on the pitch but shake hands at the end, it’s part of the sport.
”For me, whatever happens on the pitch – handbags or whatever – you show sportsmanship and shake hands afterwards. He didn’t do that, so I’m so glad we beat them. Players like that, I don’t think it’s acceptable.
“A lot of them walked in but I went up to him to shake his hand but he didn’t want to – and he’s their captain! There was a lot of that in the game but that’s football and we managed it well and kept our cool.”