Bruno Guimaraes manages to dodge a red card incident during Newcastle's friendly match with Tottenham, despite his display of volatile behavior.
Newcastle vs Spurs Pre-Season Friendly: Bruno Guimaraes's Controversial Incident
The pre-season friendly between Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur was marked by a heated incident involving Bruno Guimaraes and Cristian Romero during the first half.
The altercation started when Guimaraes reacted angrily to a push from Romero, grabbing the Spurs defender around the neck. The incident took place just outside the penalty area, causing a stir among the spectators. Despite the physical nature of the altercation, Guimaraes escaped punishment during the match.
In pre-season friendlies, referees often show more leniency compared to competitive Premier League fixtures, especially regarding disciplinary sanctions like red cards. This leniency is aimed at maintaining flow and because such matches are not competitive fixtures with league points at stake.
However, had the foul play been prolonged or more severe, the card could have been upgraded to red. Post-match disciplinary reviews may also apply to pre-season friendlies, but punishments and bans are often less strict compared to Premier League games.
Fans on social media were quick to react, expressing their opinions about the incident. One fan wrote, "It's a friendly boys," while another added, "Romero definitely started it but in a Prem game Guimaraes would've been sent off." A third fan commented, "There's no such thing as a friendly 🤣."
The match ended in a 1-1 draw. Brennan Johnson scored an opener for Tottenham, doing Son Heung-min's trademark 'camera pose' in celebration. Harvey Barnes levelled the score, three minutes before the incident between Guimaraes and Romero. Some fans were in disbelief by the amount of mistakes being made during the game.
As both teams prepare for the start of the Premier League season, Newcastle will kick off their campaign at home against Aston Villa, while Spurs will start away at Burnley on August 16. Son Heung-min, a South Korean icon, announced before the game his intention to leave Spurs after ten years this summer. Fabian Schar, Guimaraes' team-mate and fellow centre-back, was involved in the incident.
Despite the controversy, the pre-season friendly provided an exciting warm-up for the upcoming Premier League season. The incident between Guimaraes and Romero serves as a reminder that while the rules for foul play do not officially differ between pre-season friendlies and Premier League matches, practical enforcement and disciplinary consequences tend to be more lenient in pre-season.
Football enthusiasts might compare the Guimaraes-Romero altercation during the Newcastle vs Spurs pre-season friendly to when such incidents would lead to red cards in European-leagues' Premier League games. Regardless of the leniency in pre-season friendlies, fans and critics alike have discussed the incident's implications for Guimaraes, who faces the possibility of harsher discipline revisited in post-match reviews.
