Celtic 4-0 Newcastle United: Pope makes blunder in pre-season thumping
Newcastle United were resoundingly beaten by Scottish champions Celtic on Saturday, with Brendan Rodgers' side claiming a 4-0 win.
Celtic ran riot against Newcastle United as they claimed a 4-0 victory in Saturday's pre-season friendly.
Newcastle went into the clash at Celtic Park on the back of a 4-0 win over Carlisle United in their opening pre-season game last week, but Eddie Howe's team were convincingly beaten by the Scottish champions, who benefited from a huge error from Nick Pope.
Arne Engels opened the scoring with a 28th-minute penalty before Johnny Kenny doubled Celtic's lead, latching onto a long ball that was misjudged by Pope, presenting a clear path through to an open goal.
An early second-half effort from Yang Hyun-jun put the game to bed before Liam Scales added a fourth for the hosts with a fine header from Kieran Tierney's cross.
Newcastle, who have been at the centre of much transfer speculation this week regarding the futures of Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak, showed some threat, particularly through Anthony Gordon and debutant Anthony Elanga, but they failed to find the back of the net.
Celtic have one more friendly, against Ajax on Thursday, ahead of their first league match against St. Mirren, while Newcastle will now travel to Singapore to face Arsenal.
Data Debrief: Newcastle's wake-up call
Liverpool made a play for Newcastle's star man Isak this week, but the Magpies have rebuffed the Reds' offer. The Swede, who is also reportedly of interest to clubs in Saudi Arabia, did not feature in Howe's squad in Glasgow, though there was still plenty of talent in the visitors' line-up, with Bruno Guimaraes, Harvey Barnes, Kieran Trippier and Jacob Murphy all starting.
Yet Celtic showed the kind of form that saw them dominate in Scotland last season, generating 2.43 expected goals (xG) from 14 attempts. Newcastle had 16 shots, and got seven on target compared to their hosts' five, but Rodgers' team were more efficient with their finishing.
Indeed, Newcastle created chances worth only 1.05 xG, with a close-range header from Sean Neave late on directed at goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo, as Celtic claimed a morale-boosting victory ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
