Allan Saint-Maximin laments Newcastle goalkeeper’s red card that stops him playing in cup final

Allan Saint-Maximin regretted Newcastle United goalkeeper Nick Pope’s red card but insisted the Magpies can be proud of their efforts despite losing to Liverpool.

The Reds ended Newcastle’s 17-game unbeaten run in the Premier League with a 2-0 win at St James’ Park on Saturday.

Juergen Klopp’s side stunned Newcastle with a brilliant start and the stunned hosts were reduced to ten men on 22 minutes when Pope was sent off.

The 25-year-old French winger called the match “a very bad day” and said Pope will miss the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United next Sunday.

Saint-Maximin said: ‘Yes, it’s a very bad day. I feel sad for the Pope. He tried to help the team, it’s a bad red card for the team because they will miss the cup final.

Allan Saint-Maximin says he “feels sad” for Nick Pope after the Newcastle United goalkeeper was sent off for handball

The stunned hosts were reduced to ten men in the 22nd minute when the Pope was sent off

‘He did everything possible to help us, we need to support him. It’s a bad day. Today we played well, we had the first chance with Almiron, then they scored that it was painful but we tried to keep playing and keep going.

‘Even with ten men we played very well and had chances to come back with Burn and Wilson, we still had a lot of chances so it’s very positive to see how we played with ten men.

Don’t look at what happened to Liverpool, they are still a great team. Playing with ten men against them is very bad, we have to be focused for the cup final.

“I’m disappointed with the game because it’s important to win before the final. When you play a final, it’s to win.”

Fourth-placed Newcastle’s only previous defeat in the league came against Liverpool in late August.

Darwin Núñez controlled a long pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold to score in the 10th minute.

The goal was controlled and cleared by VAR after it was suspected that the ball had hit Núñez’s arm while he was controlling it.

The Pope will miss the final of the Carabao Cup against Manchester United next Sunday

Cody Gakpo doubled Liverpool’s lead seven minutes later when he scored a clever pass from Mohamed Salah.

Pope then went wide of his net thanks to a long clearance from his counterpart Alisson Becker.

He ended up grabbing the ball with his hand outside his penalty area after initially trying to head it.

Newcastle responded well and were denied a mix of Wood and Alisson, but the damage was done.