Newcastle defeated Tottenham 5-4 on penalties in a friendly match in Melbourne, Australia, just three days after the Premier League season ended. The game, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, ended 1-1 in regular time and was attended by 78,419 fans.
Former England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer had called the timing of the match “madness” due to the players’ increasing workload. Despite these concerns, the match proceeded.
Tottenham’s James Maddison scored the first goal in the 32nd minute, capitalizing on a poor pass by Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope. Swedish striker Alexander Isak equalized for Newcastle just before halftime.
The match then went to penalties, where Bryan Gil’s miss for Spurs was the only error. Harrison Ashby, who was on loan at Swansea last season, scored the winning penalty for Newcastle.
Both clubs named strong squads for the trip with England defender Kieran Trippier, Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes and Isak in the Newcastle starting line-up, while Maddison, Dutch defender Micky van de Ven and South Korea captain Son Heung-min in the Spurs ranks.
Trippier, who like Maddison is in England’s provisional Euro 2024 squad, came off after 36 minutes, which Newcastle said was “pre-planned”.
Speaking before the match, boss Eddie Howe said it was an opportunity to “grow the name of Newcastle”.
While Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou accepted that “exposure and revenue” was a key element of the long trip, he acknowledged had his side been in European competition this season he would have blocked it.
Newcastle will also play a second match against an A-League All Star side on Friday.
This summer has the European Championship in Germany, which starts on 14 June, while the Copa America gets under way in the United States six days later.
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