Newcastle conceded their first goal of the 2024-25 Premier League season on Sunday as Marcus Tavernier put hosts Bournemouth in front against the Magpies at the Vitality Stadium.
Midfielder Tavernier converted from Antoine Semenyo’s cross to open the scoring eight minutes before half-time in a concerning turn of events for Magpies boss and Bournemouth legend Eddie Howe.
Semenyo had earlier hit the crossbar with a shot after cutting inside from the left wing in an encouraging start for Andoni Iraola’s side, who gave a debut to club-record signing Evanilson in attack.
Visiting forward Joelinton was partly culpable for Bournemouth’s goal, losing the ball in a risky position and finding his team swiftly punished.
Get in thereeeee 🎯 pic.twitter.com/fjZN8XOwGW
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) August 25, 2024
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Bournemouth vs Newcastle: Tavernier goal
Tavernier’s strike was a welcome one for a Bournemouth side operating without their runaway top scorer last season, Dominic Solanke, following the striker’s £55 million move to Tottenham.
Brazil forward Evanilson, who joined from Porto for £40.2m earlier this month, made his debut for the club but Bournemouth endured a second half containing two key moments they will want to forget.
Anthony Gordon poked in Harvey Barnes’ cross to equalise 14 minutes from time, and there was stoppage-time drama when Dango Ouattara had a 93rd-minute goal ruled out by a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) check.
Ouattara was swiftly adjudged to have touched the ball with his arm rather than shoulder in a contentious-looking decision.
Bournemouth VAR decision
“It’s so obvious what has happened today,” Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola told BBC Sport, clearly disagreeing with the verdict.
“The ball never touches the skin of Dango. We have very short sleeves. It obviously touches the shoulder. The fact is that it doesn’t touch the arm.
“It’s a clear goal and clear points for us. You take two points from us. It’s a goal; I would say it’s not even controversial. It’s definitely not something for the VAR to intervene in.
“Someone in the VAR, who supposedly is not going to intervene too much [has made the decision]. [VAR] is supposedly not going to intervene too much, they say in the meetings, because they will trust the referee and it will only be used in extreme cases and they will make the threshold very high.
“I have nothing against the referee [David Coote]. He gave the goal. They didn’t give him the chance to see it again because if they did, he would have given the goal again.”
