Newcastle United earned a 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao to round off their pre-season schedule with a second win in 24 hours. Having beaten Serie A side Atalanta on Friday night, United then enjoyed a victory over the team that finished eighth in La Liga last term.
On a muggy afternoon at St James' Park the crowd of 46,856 saw Newcastle take full control of the game to storm 2-0 up in the second half. And despite a late rally from Bilbao, who pulled a goal back through Raul Garcia and struck the post, Newcastle did enough to hold on for the win.
The Magpies started the game with the attacking intent supporters crave and after a couple of probing passes from Bruno Guimaraes to Allan Saint-Maximin hadn't quite paid off, United took the lead after four minutes.
