The onus fell on Newcastle United skipper Dan Burn to approach Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić after a shambolic first half
08:30, 29 Jan 2026Updated 08:53, 29 Jan 2026
Referee Slavko Vincic talks to Dan Burn of Newcastle
Newcastle United skipper Dan Burn has lifted the lid on what he was told after the Magpies were denied a penalty at Parc des Princes last night.
The game churned out two near identical situations in the penalty area as Lewis Miley was adjudged to have handballed in the opening minute after the ball bounced off Bradley Barcoloa’s arm. Match official Slavko Vincic awarded a spot-kick after a VAR intervention, although it was ultimately squandered by Ousmane Dembele with Nick Pope producing a great save.
In the closing minutes of the first half, PSG defender Marquinhos appeared to have handled after a Burn flick on from a Lewis Hall throw-in. However, the Slovenian referee quickly dismissed what seemed like a straight-forward decision based on their earlier judgement.
Newcastle were left disgusted by the first-half decisions, with manager Eddie Howe particularly vocal after the game, while Burn and assistant manager Jason Tindall confronted Vincic at full-time.
Burn told reporters after the game: “They got the penalty and I was pretty surprised. The handball rule is different in Europe compared to England.
“But I was still very surprised. It shows (the reaction thereafter) the maturity we have got in the squad. From the last campaign we had we showed we can settle and get back into the game.”
Speaking on the Marquinhos incident, Burn said: “I asked at half-time. And to be fair the ref said he looked at it and he said did not think it was similar.
“I thought there were a few decisions that didn’t go our way and went the other way. I thought we played well and we should not let this overshadow the performance we put in. We went toe to toe with the best team in the world.
“Did it spur us on? A little bit it gives you that mentality that is us against everyone else, I feel we always play our best football when we have that mentality.
“But it was a good mature performance from the lads.”
Newcastle switched to a 3-4-2-1 formation which included Burn coming back into the defence to help Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman out. It is a system Newcastle have used on occasions under Howe, but Burn admitted after the game that it took some time to get used to.
Burn said: “I have always said that the manager puts out a process and a game plan where he thinks we can win the game. We feel nine times out of 10 if we stick to that we get the result.
“It is normally when we go off script that we struggle. It took 15 or 20 minutes to get used to that. We picked up a result though.”
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