'They said' - Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe's verdict on controversial Chelsea incident

Eddie Howe admits Newcastle United's Carabao Cup exit to Chelsea "hurts a lot" as he praised his players' performance.

The Magpies were 90 seconds away from advancing into the semi-finals via Callum Wilson's 16th minute opener but a Kieran Trippier error in the 92nd minute saw Mykhailo Mudryk take the game to penalties.

Substitutes Trippier and Matt Ritchie missed their spot-kicks as Blues won 4-2. United's League Cup exit comes six days after they were knocked out of the Champions League.

"Yeah it does, it hurts a lot. It's a very similar feeling to the end of the PSG game," said Howe. "The lads had committed so much, gave everything and we led for so long. We'd defended really, really well but we didn't get over the line.

"Whenever we concede we concede collectively not individually. I thought as a team defensively today we were excellent.

"Our shape was so good and we denied them really clearcut chances. We had to make some changes again due to injuries. I can't praise the players enough.

"We tried to refocus and forget the last part of the game and the fact that we were in a shootout to try to get to the semi-final. Penalty shootouts are always a lottery and we didn't quite win it then.

"I think we probably weren't as good technically as we would have wanted to be in the second half. In the first half we were a clear threat and scored our goal. But we lost our threat in the second half, even if we defended really well.

"We accepted our role in the game that we were going to defend and frustrate them. Like I say, we were a couple of minutes away from winning the game."

Howe also provided his verdict on an incident involving Anthony Gordon and Moises Caicedo in the opening stages. Caicedo's tackle on Gordon resulted in the winger being brought off at the beginning of the second-half.

Asked if Caicedo should have seen red, Howe replied: "I'm going on what other people have said and they said it should be a red card.

"It's a very painful moment for us. We'll just have to accept it, digest it very quickly because we go back to the Premier League and go to Luton. That will be an emotional game."