Shay Given believes referee made a mistake in Newcastle’s defeat to Barcelona, ‘very lucky…’

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Shay Given revealed that he believes the referee made a mistake in the first half by not awarding a red card in the Champions League tie between Newcastle United and Barcelona.

Glen Nyberg and his team of match officials handled the game at St. James’ Park without too much fuss, handing out six yellow cards and no reds.

However, as the first half drew to a close, the action became a little feisty, and one collision between Bruno Guimaraes and Gerard Martin could have gone differently.

Ultimately, it didn’t, and Barcelona went on to win the game 2-1, but the former Newcastle United goalkeeper wasn’t sure that Nyberg got it right.

Shay Given felt Barcelona’s Gerard Martin was ‘very lucky’

Martin caught Guimaraes with a late challenge in the first half that saw his studs raised toward the Newcastle midfielder.

The Barcelona full-back was given a yellow card for his challenge, but when speaking about the incident at halftime for TNT Sports, Given made it clear it could easily have been worse.

“VAR had a look at it,  but I think he’s really put the studs high up his shin there. I think we’ve seen red cards for less, in the Champions League especially. I think Martin is very lucky.”

A red card at that stage in the game would’ve been crucial for Newcastle, given that the game was goalless, especially since Martin ended up playing 81 minutes.

The left-back had a tricky challenge trying to keep Anthony Elanga quiet throughout the night, but he managed to do that mostly, as Barcelona hadn’t conceded by the time he was substituted.

Marcus Rashford stole the show against Newcastle United

While the game would undoubtedly have turned out differently had Barcelona gone down to 10 men in the first half, it ended up being the Marcus Rashford show when all was said and done.

The on-loan Manchester United forward scored a brace in the second half, with the first being a header and the other a long-range effort from outside the box.

Even Bruno Fernandes was left stunned by Rashford’s second goal, as the Barcelona star dazzled at St. James’ Park with a strong individual performance.

Anthony Gordon did score for Newcastle, but it proved to be too little too late for Eddie Howe’s side to cause any real problems.