Bruce slams Leicester's Choudhury for "horror" tackle on Ritchie

Ritchie was left requiring stitches on three wounds and is heading for a scan on his ankle after the first half challenge from the England Under-21 international in the first half at St James’ Park.

• Update: Newcastle boss Steve Bruce reeling from Matt Ritchie injury blow

Choudhury, who was dismissed for his country in the summer for an awful challenge on France’s Jonathan Bamba, was only issued with a yellow card from referee Tim Robinson and that enraged Bruce.

The Newcastle head coach said: “The mess Matt Ritchie is in, if it was VAR tonight … it was a horrible challenge. You want to see the state of him. It was a horror challenge. He has three cuts, they all need stitches and the ref was five yards away from it.

Leicester City players celebrate after Jamie Vardy scores the winning penalty to put his side through to the next round. Picture: PA

“It’s difficult to take. I don’t like to see anyone getting sent off but when I see horror challenges like that no wonder he has gone off injured. It was over the top, awful. Believe me it’s a horror one.

“He has been stitched up, three different wounds. We will scan to see if there is ankle damage. I never want to see anyone sent off but when you are over the top of the ball, lunging in like that you can damage people and nobody wants to see that.”

Jonjo Shelvey reacts after missing his penalty during the shootout in the Carabao Cup. Picture: PA

Leicester’s assistant manager Chris Davies stuck up for Choudhury. Davies said: “There was no malice whatsoever from Hamza, everyone who has seen him play knows he is competitive.”

Newcastle made seven changes to the team to face Leicester and only lost on penalties when Jonjo Shelvey and Isaac Hayden missed spot-kicks. The game went to penalties after Yoshinori Muto’s 54th minute tap in cancelled out James Maddison’s 34th minute free-kick. Newcastle have only won one penalty shoot-out in their history.

Bruce, who also had to take off Jetro Willems and Emil Krafth because of injuries, said: “It is frustrating, we have to accept it and get on with it. There is nothing we can do. Jetro has a hamstring problem, Emil has a thigh strain, we will see how we go.

“Let’s hopes we have more luck in the next cup. Our record isn’t very good in penalty shoot-outs, we have done everything we can to stay in the competitions. The changes we had to make, the back three were immense. Young Matty Longstaff making his debut, I’m just disappointed with the result.

“The changes? Allan Saint-Maximim is one, Joelinton was two with his groin, Miguel Almiron’s ankle, three. I changed the goalkeeper and Karl Darlow was immaculate. Then I couldn’t risk Christian Atsu, who hadn’t played for weeks. And young Sean Longstaff, he’d had three games in six days, so that was too much for him after a serious knee injury. With all of them that’s the reason.”

Joelinton and Almiron should both be fit to face Watford on Saturday in the Premier League and Bruce knows how important it is already.

“I have to get them all up to speed,” he said. “It’s a huge one already in the season. If we can get to six points that would be a wonderful start for us. That has been the aim since I walked through the door, except for Norwich they have tuned into what I wanted to do. We need to improve offensively.

"For large periods against Arsenal, a very good Arsenal, were good. This is a good side Leicester side, they will be top half, and we have given as good as we got.

“Leicester got a goal out of nothing and we have had to take a lot on the chin. You are always disappointed when you miss a penalty and these lads are. I have been there. I know how they feel. They can be pleased how they played though.”