Newcastle‘s controversial post-season tour of Australia ended in an embarrassing defeat on Friday as they were thrashed 8-0 by the A-League All Stars in Melbourne.
The Australian team’s victory was their first against European opposition with the likes of Manchester United, Juventus and Barcelona beating previous iterations of the All Stars squad.
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Manager Eddie Howe had named an inexperienced side for the match after many of Newcastle’s first-team players had flown home following their penalty shootout victory over Tottenham on Wednesday.
Lewis Hall, Elliot Anderson and Kieran Trippier were the only senior players among Howe’s squad, although they were all unused substitutes.
Their two-match postseason tour on the other side of the world has been criticised by climate change campaign groups, with Trippier previously saying that he felt the matches were “not ideal.”