Newcastle United’s pre-season plans are starting to take further shape following the news that Atletico Madrid would be coming to town in the Sela Cup.
Clearly, Newcastle United have a lot of work to do in the transfer market before pre-season starts.
Still, it promises to be an exciting summer when Eddie Howe begins his preparations. Newcastle are set to play Atletico Madrid in the Sela Cup, with the Spanish giants bringing both their men’s and women’s teams to St James’ Park in August.
It will be brilliant to see Diego Simeone’s side on Tyneside. Clearly, a friendly won’t be played at quite the same level of intensity as a Champions League meeting, but it’s still a heavyweight opponent.
The Sela Cup has been running for three years now, and Atletico are surely the biggest hitter involved thus far.
Indeed, it seems they’re looking forward to Simeone squaring off against a certain Jason Tindall…
Photo by George Wood/Getty Images
Photo by George Wood/Getty Images
Atletico Madrid’s message to Jason Tindall
Following the confirmation of the game, the Spanish giants aimed a cheeky little dig at the Newcastle United assistant manager.
Much has been made about the fact Tindall supposedly craves media attention, while he’s proven himself willing to indulge in the dark arts on the touchline.
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Given Simeone’s reputation for that kind of behaviour too, it could be quite the touchline clash even in the context of a friendly game.
On Tuesday, Atletico Madrid’s English-speaking official X account posted an image of Simeone alongside Howe and Tindall.
They rather brilliantly captioned it: “9 August: Atleti vs. Newcastle.
“Simeone vs. Eddie Howe (and Jason Tindall).”
What Eddie Howe has said about Diego Simeone ahead of Newcastle United vs Atletico Madrid
Howe went to watch Simeone’s Atletico train while he was between jobs before joining Newcastle in 2021.
Previously a manager who was known for his free-flowing attacking football while at Bournemouth, Howe returned to work a changed man.
While Newcastle are capable of playing some brilliant stuff on their day, they are arguably much more streetwise than his Cherries side. That is part of what has made them such a competitive team on the highest level.
When it was put to him back in 2023 that he was becoming the “new Diego Simeone”, Howe said: “Yes I did go and see a couple of Diego Simeone’s training sessions. I’ve got huge respect for him as a coach and as a manager.
“But, literally, they’re one hour training sessions and then you go, so certainly I took nothing in terms of the dark arts that you’re [the journalist] discussing from Diego!”