In an Australian post-season friendly, Newcastle defeated Tottenham 5-4 on penalties, barely three days after the Premier League concluded.
Former England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer referred to the scheduling of the match—played in front of 78,419 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and ended 1-1 after regular time—as “madness.”
Despite worries about the players’ mounting workload, it went forward.
Spurs’ first goal came in the 32nd minute when James Maddison, an England midfielder, took advantage of a mishandled pass by Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope to weave past the Magpies’ defence and slam the ball into the top corner.
A Swedish striker, Alexander Isak levelled the score soon before halftime from close range.
The match then proceeded directly to penalties, with Bryan Gil missing the first and only one for the Spurs as the other nine were successfully converted.
Newcastle’s winning penalty was scored by right-back Harrison Ashby, who was on loan at Swansea during the previous season.
Both teams fielded formidable squads for the trip: Maddison, Dutch defender Micky van de Ven, South Korea captain Son Heung-min, and England defender Kieran Trippier started for Newcastle, along with Isak and Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.
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 the “exposure and revenue” was a key element of the long trip, he acknowledged had his side been in Europe 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 Championships in Germany, which start on 14 June, while the Copa America gets underway in the United States six days later.
