Jermaine Jenas fumes at 'shocking decision' as VAR denies Newcastle United famous UEFA Champions League win at PSG

Jermaine Jenas said he was "fuming" after the award of a 98th-minute penalty that helped Paris Saint-Germain rescue a 1-1 draw with Newcastle in the UEFA Champions League.

Having won the reverse fixture at St James' Park 4-1, The Magpies looked set to complete the double over PSG when they led heading into stoppage-time courtesy of Alexander Isak's strike in the 24th minute.

But a late VAR intervention led to a harshly awarded spot-kick for a handball against Tino Lavramento that allowed the Ligue 1 champions to level and take a share of the spoils.

And Jenas, a former Newcastle player, was critical of the decision in the aftermath.

"It's one of the most disgraceful decisions I've seen in a long, long time," Jenas said on TNT Sports.

"The reason being is because you look at the nature of the game, all the energy the players have put into it, and it comes down to a really shocking decision that a referee has made.

"It's a deflection of his body onto his arm, not in any walk of life is that a penalty. It just isn't.

"So you can clearly see it hits Livramento’s chest, onto his arm – what’s he supposed to do with his arm, wrap it around his back?

"Honestly, I’m fuming. I really am because there is that feeling of, you've been cheated, and I think as a player when you've been out there, and they put everything into that game, and they had to change the way they played in the second half.

"They had to just defend the box down and Nick Pope made some of the best saves he’s ever made. And it should be one of those historical wins that really leads them into this last game [with] AC Milan.

"They can still go through don't get me wrong, but they've been robbed, they’ve been absolutely robbed."

Jenas was further exasperated by the decision given the fact a penalty was not awarded earlier in the game against Newcastle’s Jamie Miley when the ball ricocheted off his leg onto his arm.

"It’s not very similar, it’s exactly the same," he added. "So this is on Miley and it bounces up off his quad onto his arm, right? That went to VAR. VAR had a really good look at it and decided that's not a penalty.

"I don't get how somebody watching VAR can look at that and go, ‘that's not a penalty’, then look at the incident at the end of the game and say that is a penalty.

"It's complete negligence to the game and what the players deserve because there's nothing about it that is a penalty."

The result could have huge ramifications for Newcastle, who no longer have their own destiny in their hands as they bid to advance into the knockout phase of the competition.

With a win, the Premier League club would have leapfrogged PSG into second in Group F, meaning victory against AC Milan would have guaranteed their progress.

Instead, they remain third and need to win at home to the Italian giants and hope the result in the match between Borussia Dortmund and PSG falls in their favour.

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