Our visit to Asia ended in in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United on an emotional evening for skipper Heung-Min Son, appearing in his hometown just a day after announcing his intention to leave the Club.
Following Thursday’s defeat of Arsenal in Hong Kong, we rounded off this year’s pre-season tour with a competitive clash against the Magpies in Seoul, South Korea, with Brennan Johnson’s early goal cancelled out by Harvey Barnes in the Coupang Play Series.
Following his announcement on Saturday, Son was selected to start by new Head Coach Thomas Frank and wore the armband at a venue he knows so well as captain of his country, with his substitution from the pitch in the 64th minute a poignant moment.
Unfortunately though, James Maddison left the pitch on a stretcher in the closing stages after pulling up with no-one around him, clearly in distress.
We made a great start to the contest and had already gone close when Nick Pope had to parry away Pape Matar Sarr’s effort from a cleared corner before we took the lead in the fourth minute. Kevin Danso nicked possession deep inside Newcastle’s half and the ball ran straight to Johnson who advanced towards goal before striking a controlled, low right-foot finish into the bottom corner. He paid tribute to his skipper with a trademark Son celebration to the delight of the packed crowd!
Newcastle then enjoyed a spell of possession, Joelinton almost on the end of an Anthony Gordon cut-back before the latter flashed a shot into the side-netting via a deflection. We had a glorious chance to double our lead in the 18th minute as Mathys Tel won the ball from Dan Burn and was suddenly through on goal with almost half the pitch in front of him. Pope stood up tall though, didn’t commit and was able to save Tel’s effort with his legs.
Joelinton sent a header a fraction wide from Bruno Guimaraes’ cross with 23 minutes on the clock and Pedro Porro produced a sensational 50-yard cross-field ping to release Son but his eventual shot was blocked before Newcastle levelled it up with a fine goal. Some quick passing in midfield opened us up, the ball going out to Barnes on their left and he cut inside before rifling past Antonin Kinsky at his near post. The Magpies’ forward almost added a second but this time Porro was on hand to block and it was all square at the break.
The early stages of the second period saw Newcastle in the ascendency, Gordon jabbing just wide before having a close-range finish ruled out for offside on 54 minutes. Not a great deal was happening in the forward areas and, in the 64th minute, a significant moment as Son was substituted off, replaced by Mohammed Kudus. There were hugs all round for the skipper from both sets of players and an emotional standing ovation as he left the pitch.
The final stages didn’t produce much in the way of goalmouth action, Pope saving comfortably from Lucas Bergvall the only real attempt of note as it finished honours even.