Liverpool star’s ‘f***ing embarrassing’ dive roasted by legends as VAR flops again

Football legends have lined up to excoriate Liverpool attacker Diogo Jota for his theatrical antics to win a penalty late in the 4-2 win over Newcastle, blasting the Portuguese player for ‘diving’ instead of staying on his feet and scoring.

Liverpool were deserved winners after the Reds dominated large parts of the game, taking 34 shots and racking up a whopping 7.27 expected goals – the most since the stat was first recorded in 2010.

But Jota was panned for an incident with Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka which earned Liverpool a second penalty of the match.

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On a breakaway counter-attack, Jota was clean through on goal. As he attempted to round Dubravka, the keeper clipped his ankle.

Jota took another step after the minimal contact before eventually throwing himself to the ground – though if he stayed upright, he had an empty net into which he could have scored.

But VAR supported the on-field referee Anthony Taylor’s decision of a penalty, Dubravka copped a yellow card, and Mohamed Salah made amends for his earlier penalty miss.

Football greats were stunned at the decision.

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Gary Neville, in commentary for Sky Sports, said: “Oh no. You can’t give a penalty for that.

“He goes forward and then goes forward and then goes down. The delay is too great. It’s two or three yards after the contact.”

Neville added afterwards: “The