Journalist spotted Curtis Jones exploding with rage over one stoppage time moment at Wembley | OneFootball

It wasn’t just Liverpool’s lacklustre performance which left Curtis Jones raging towards the end of the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

The Reds never really got going at Wembley as they were deservedly beaten 2-1 by Newcastle, with Federico Chiesa’s goal in stoppage time coming far too late to spark genuine hopes of a dramatic comeback.

The Magpies were full value for their win and it’s impossible to begrudge them their first major domestic trophy in 70 years, although Kieran Tripper might’ve gotten off lightly in the first half with a sneaky mid-air foul on Luis Diaz and a legitimate penalty shout for handball.

Jones fuming over Joelinton taking out Elliott

Fast forward to the 11th minute of stoppage time, and with Liverpool threatening a counterattack to try and find a last-gasp equaliser, Joelinton dragged Harvey Elliot to the ground behind the referee’s back (and at neck height) with the ball a good 20 yards away, leaving Jones justifiably incensed.

Liverpool Echo reporter Ian Doyle noticed the furious reaction from the 24-year-old, writing: ‘Incredibly, none of the officials saw the incident to be too much bother, with Curtis Jones waving his arms and running towards the referee in anger at the Newcastle man escaping censure.

‘Poor Elliott, meanwhile, was left needing treatment on the pitch after the final whistle as Newcastle celebrated. Talk about adding injury to insult.’

Image via CBS Sports

Jones had every right to be incensed

Whilst ultimately it didn’t matter in the overall context of the game, and nobody could dispute that the Magpies were fully deserving of their victory, Jones had every right to be raging over that particular incident.

Considering that offences such as delaying restarts or casually kicking the ball away often result in yellow cards, it’s baffling as to how Joelinton escaped censure for the most unsubtle off-the-ball taking out of Elliott imaginable.

The fact that Liverpool’s number 19 needed treatment beyond the full-time whistle shows that it was dangerous play by the Brazilian, who knew exactly what he was doing and snidely took advantage of John Brooks having his back turned to the incident.

Whilst every team employs an element of the ‘dark arts’ when seeing out narrow victories, there was no need for the Newcastle player to so cynically take out his opponent, and Jones was right to bring it to the referee’s attention when the official had no idea that it had happened.

Nothing can be done about it now, though, and we again reiterate that the Magpies 100% deserved to win and to lap up every second of the ensuing celebrations.