Pundit Ian Wright has taken to social media to share his bemusement after seeing Diogo Jota go down for a penalty in Liverpool's win over Newcastle United.

2024 isn't even 24 hours old and here we are, talking about VAR yet again.

The drama came in Liverpool's win over Newcastle United this evening, with Liverpool 3-2 up at the time and facing a nervy final 10 minutes.

Newcastle had just pulled a goal back through Sven Botman, giving the Magpies hope of a late leveller at Anfield.

Those hopes were quickly erased through as Diogo Jota went clean through on goal and went around Newcastle stopper Martin Dubravka.

Yet rather than tap the ball into an empty net, Jota flung himself to the ground in a rather dramatic collapse.

Replays showed a minimal touch on from Dubravka on Jota, meaning VAR didn't intervene and allowed the penalty to stand.

Mohamed Salah stepped up to score from the spot, sealing Liverpool's 4-2 victory in controversial fashion.

Ian Wright reacts to Diogo Jota incident in Liverpool win Jota had the freedom of Merseyside as he went through on goal, with Liverpool fans no doubt begging him to fire the ball into the net.

Going around the keeper was a surprising choice but to then go down seemed absolute bizarre with the goal at his mercy.

It's not like Dubravka hauled him to the ground; there was very light contact on Jota and yet he decided to go down.

That decision from Jota has sparked as much conversation as VAR's decision to approve the penalty with Ian Wright among those to be completely baffled.

Fellow pundit Alan Shearer joined in, suggesting that Jota dived to win Liverpool's penalty.

Wright and Shearer know the mentality of a striker having played up top themselves; if an open goal is there, you're absolutely going for it.

Wright just couldn't believe Jota decided to hit the deck instead of smash the ball into the net and only Jota himself can really explain what happened there.

We saw Jota with some unselfish play earlier in the game, squaring the ball for Curtis Jones to score rather than shoot himself.

This was something entirely different though and former strikers like Wright will be left wondering just what on earth went through the PS45million striker's head as he fell to the ground.