Callum Wilson claims Manchester United defenders admitted Newcastle United should have been awarded a penalty during their Old Trafford stalemate. The Magpies' number nine was brought down by Raphael Varane in the box, but referee Craig Pawson dismissed calls for a spot-kick.
Sunday's goalless draw was dogged by a number of contentious decisions, with the hosts later being hit with an FA charge after protesting Pawson's decision not to allow Cristiano Ronaldo's second-half strike to stand. The Red Devils also had their own penalty appeal waved away after Sean Longstaff looked to have clipped Jadon Sancho in the area.
It is the latest Newcastle match this season to be marred by VAR controversy or contentious refereeing calls. Reflecting on his penalty shout, Wilson insists his opponents would go on to accept they were lucky Varane was not penalised for a foul.
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He told the BBC's Footballer's Football Podcast: "It's actually getting embarrassing because I was waiting for a goal-kick in our game, and I don't even want to get started on the decisions in our game. One of the United players says to me what's happened to the standard of referees in this country?
"I was thinking wow, that's from a foreign player saying that to me and they've not experienced it before. I got wiped out, the defenders on their team are saying that should have been a penalty."
Replays show Wilson did not appeal too strongly at the time, before speaking with Pawson at the next break in play. The Newcastle striker says this is in part down to being 'fed up' by inconsistent refereeing decisions, but also the hope that VAR would reach the right decision.
Wilson added: "I get taken out, I don't even get up and start appealing now because I'm fed up of going mad at referees and this and that. If it's going to be a penalty and the referee misses it, you're thinking VAR are going to do their job. I'm waiting for the ball to go out of play, then I say to the ref what are you saying? He was like it was never a penalty, and I'm like why am I even wasting my time here then?
"At the end of the day, if Martinez is not in the way and I go past Varane, it's still a foul. They were basically trying to say I was trying to go through a gap that wasn't there, but I was one-v-one in the box and Varane steps across me.
"I've shifted it past him and he's stepped across my path so I have to run into him. When you're about to go at speed and he's not even touched the ball, there's nowhere for me to go."
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