Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez admits his contract situation is becoming an unwanted distraction after defeat at home to Crystal Palace

Luka Milivojevic's 10th successful penalty of the season gave Crystal Palace a late win at Newcastle.

Benitez was then asked about the uncertainty in the air at St James' Park and whether that is helping anybody at the moment.

He said: "No.

"Today was more a game of football that we knew was an important game and we were doing a lot of good things.

"But my disappointment is because what happened today, we knew that could happen and we were talking about that, how to prevent these things, and we didn't do it at the end."