Newcastle United are out of the League Cup, but one of the big talking points after the game is the injury to Matt Ritchie.
He limped off just before half time after a crunching tackle by Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury. The bushy-haired midfielder got away with it though, only getting a yellow card for the foul.
Steve Bruce was fuming, and rightly so. He told the Chronicle: “The mess Matt Ritchie’s in – it was horror challenge. When I see the mess on his leg.
“We fear ankle damage, he’s got three stitches in his leg. I don’t want players sent off but when it’s horror challenges, it isn’t good.
“It’s a horror one, it’s over the top. Believe me, it’s a horrible one.”
After seeing the challenge, it’s hard not to agree with Bruce. Yes, Choudhury did get the ball, but it was one of those ‘excessive force’ kind of challenges. Studs up, following through, it wasn’t pretty at all. No wonder Ritchie’s ankle is apparently such a mess.
However, people of a Leicester persuasion seem to see it differently. Some are even revelling in the Newcastle player’s injury, particularly people in a professional capacity who you’d expect better from.
BBC Leicester reporter Owynn Palmer-Atkin wrote on Twitter: “Matt Ritchie has been absolutely destroyed by Hamza Choudhury in a huge tackle. Love to see it don’t ya.”
Meanwhile, BBC Leicester’s Twitter account appeared to justify the challenge because Ritchie had put in some of his own tackles on Foxes players.
The reaction from Leicester has been appalling. Revelling in a player getting injured is horrific and not something you ‘love to see’. You can sometimes expect this kind of reaction from fans who can be over-emotional and back their club and players no matter what, but for an actual reporter to say that is disgusting.
Foxes fans, who are celebrating their progress in the Carabao Cup, have been unsympathetic towards Newcastle’s number 11.
Leicester fans react to Choudhury’s challenge on Matt Ritchie
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