Pre-season friendlies: Newcastle thrashed, Southampton fight back

Image: Newcastle's Portuguese tour ended in defeat

Newcastle were thrashed 4-0 by Braga in their penultimate pre-season friendly ahead of the new Premier League season.

Dwight Gayle was included in Rafael Benitez's starting line-up as his proposed transfer to West Brom stalls, but his side fell behind to a goal from Ricardo Horta on 53 minutes, shooting low into the bottom corner after Mo Diame had given the ball away.

Joao Novais extended the lead with a brilliant left-footed clipped finish (78) and it was 3-0 with five minutes remaining when Fransergio headed in from a free-kick past substitute goalkeeper Karl Darlow.

And Dyego Sousa completed the scoring with almost the final kick of the match after another Braga breakaway, scoring unmarked at the far post to end Newcastle's Portuguese tour on a low note.

Image: Steven Davis and Stanislav Lobotka battle for the ball during Southampton v Celta Vigo

Southampton produced a remarkable second-half comeback as they recovered from trailing Celta Vigo 2-0 to win 3-2 at St Mary's.

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Pione Sisto curled a superb long-range opener past Alex McCarthy in the 11th minute before Iago Aspas doubled the lead, beating the goalkeeper from a tight angle two minutes before the break.

Charlie Austin came off the bench to head Southampton back into the game 10 minutes after the break before summer signing Stuart Armstrong equalised with a first-time finish from Matt Targett's pass.

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And another new signing, Mohamed Elyounoussi, struck the winner in the final minute, slotting into an empty net after James Ward-Prowse had hit the post with a long-range shot.

Image: Ricardo Pereira of Leicester and Toni Lato of Valencia in action

Leicester were held 1-1 by Valencia in their only pre-season match at the King Power Stadium before they face Manchester United on the opening night of the Premier League season.

New signing James Maddison impressed during the first half and set up Kelechi Iheanacho to score with a clever finish after 11 minutes.

Valencia equalised through Daniel Parejo's right-footed goal six minutes later after Leicester gave the ball away in defence and there were no further goals as the tempo slowed in the second half.

Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ryan Sessegnon both came off the bench in the second half for Fulham as they were beaten 1-0 by Sampdoria in Aldershot.

Former Southampton player Gaston Ramirez produced a brilliant goal in the 79th minute to earn victory in a match that the newly-promoted side dominated for long periods.

New signing Andre Schurrle went close for Fulham in the first half, while Mitrovic made his first appearance since making a permanent move from Newcastle for the final 30 minutes.

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