Heung-min Son bid farewell to his Tottenham career in emotional scenes on Sunday as the club drew 1-1 with Newcastle in South Korea.
The club captain is set to leave this summer, after 10 years at the club, with LAFC his likely destination, and started the pre-season friendly in Seoul.
Shortly after Son’s exit, there was huge concern for Spurs with James Maddison forced off with a serious-looking injury.
Spurs opened the scoring inside four minutes as Brennan Johnson scored his first goal since the Europa League final, side-footing a shot past Nick Pope and inside the near post.
Mathys Tel should have doubled Spurs’ lead not long after when running through on goal, capitalising on a slip by Dan Burn to have the whole Newcastle half to himself, but could saw his poor shot blocked by Pope inside the penalty area.
Spurs were looking for Son at every opportunity, with Pedro Porro in particular time and again pinging long crosses towards his skipper, but Newcastle were doubled up on the homeland hero to snuff out most of the danger.
Newcastle grew into the game as the half wore on and went into the half-time break level thanks to Harvey Barnes’ equaliser. Having cleared one of many Spurs corners, Newcastle broke with speed and find Barnes on the right flank, and the winger did his best Son impression by cutting inside and beating Antonin Kinsky via the inside of the near post.
Gordon thought he had given Newcastle the lead before the hour mark, latching onto a superb cross from Kieran Trippier, but was a yard offside inside the area when volleying home.
The action on the pitch became a sideshow for a number of minutes when Son’s number was shown on the substitutes’ board, likely calling time on his career at Spurs.
Every player, from each team, hugged Son, who is set to leave in the coming days after a decade at the club. The South Korean star was visibly emotional when watching the rest of the game from the sidelines.
Maddison was shortly after stretchered off after pulling up off the ball and immediately collapsing to the pitch in agony.
