'Robbed' - Pundits fume at 'disgraceful' Kylian Mbappe penalty call v Newcastle United

Newcastle United's hearts were shattered on Wednesday night when they were forced to settle for a draw against Paris Saint-Germain after Kylian Mbappé converted a controversial penalty in the eighth minute of stoppage time at Parc des Princes.

The Magpies had kept a tight hold of the match ever since Alexander Isak opened the scoring in the 24th minute. Despite pressure from PSG, Eddie Howe's side threw their bodies on the line to fight for a hard-earned win to give themselves a huge boost in their Champions League run. However, late drama saw referee Szymon Marciniak award PSG a penalty after a handball decision against Tino Livramento.

A VAR check ruled that the Newcastle ace had handled the ball inside the box, despite the replay of the incident showing the ball had struck his chest first, before coming off his elbow.

Mbappé made no mistake from the spot and Newcastle were sent home undoubtedly feeling like they'd had their win snatched from them. After the match, pundits Ally McCoist and Jermaine Jenas had a lot to say about the incident.

"That is absolutely never a penalty," said McCoist during the TNT Sports post-match debrief with Laura Woods. "If we are giving penalty kicks for that in the biggest club competition on the planet, it's a disgrace."

Jenas echoed his fellow pundit's frustrations and described the penalty as "one of the most disgraceful decisions I've seen in a long, long time."

"It's a deflection off his body, onto his arm. Not in any walk of life is that a penalty," he continued. "You can clearly see it hits Livramento's chest, onto his arm, what's he supposed to do with his arms? I'm fuming, I really am. There's that feeling that you've been cheated.

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

Howe joined the conversation a few minutes and admitted he was 'still coming to terms' with the decision against his side but said he was 'very pleased' with the performance his players gave. He also admitted he did not think it was a penalty himself.

"It's hit his chest first and I think that's the key thing. If it hit his hands first, I still don't it would be a penalty because of the close proximity but you could make more of a case. I don't think there is a case when it hits another body part first and his hands are low.

"You've summed it up better than I could because I'm not allowed to."