Newcastle United ended their preparations for the new Premier League season with a 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid at St James’ Park.
Eddie Howe’s side shaded the first-half but were undone in the second after goals from Julian Alvarez and Antonie Griezzman saw their Spanish visitors clinch the Sela Cup.
For the Magpies, the defeat means they have gone an entire pre-season without a win, losing to Celtic, Arsenal, Team K-League and Atletico, and drawing with Tottenham Hotspur and Espanyol.
The Premier League campaigns gets underway next Saturday with an away trip to Aston Villa, who United pipped to Champions League qualification on goal difference last season.
Anthony Elanga made his St James’ Park debut as Eddie Howe, as expected, named 11 changes from the 2-2 draw against Espanyol that took place less than 24 hours later. Elanga lined up on the right side of the three-man attack with Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon through the middle.
Joelinton missed four first-half headers and the Magpies were made to pay for those missed chances in the 50th minute when an Atletico counter-attack saw Alex Baena and Julian Alvarez combine with the latter opening the scoring.
Atletico made 11 changes on the hour mark and within a couple of minutes doubled their advantage through Antoine Griezmann.
Our writer Jordan Cronin was at St James’ Park - and here are his Newcastle United player ratings:
5. Tino Livramento - 6
Got forward well but switched off defensively on a couple of occasions. Both times almost proved costly. | AFP via Getty Images
6. Sandro Tonali - 7.5
An absolute workhorse in the midfield. Standard Tonali. Barely give the Atletico players a sniff. | Getty Images
7. Harrison Ashby - 6
Made an unconvincing start to the game but grew into it. Did relatively well given he was playing in a makeshift midfield role. | Getty Images
8. Joelinton - 6
Largely solid until entering the box. Missed four first-half headers when he really should have scored. | AFP via Getty Images