Newcastle 1 Olympiakos 1

By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Newcastle United 1 (S. Taylor 25)
Olympiakos 1 (Mitroglou 79)

Even a penalty shoot-out couldn't separate Newcastle and Greek champions Olympiakos at the Estadio Algarve as the two sides drew 1-1 in the Trofeu Internacional de Futebol do Guadiana.

Steven Taylor gave United the lead in the first half - a fitting way to mark his first appearance for nearly eight months - and when Francois Modesto was sent off, it looked like the Magpies would come out on top.

But Kostas Mitroglou's late equaliser forced spot-kicks in a bid to find a winner. However, although Papiss Cisse missed for Newcastle, Tim Krul saved from Andreas Tatos and so after five kicks each, it was still level.

That means if points are level after tomorrow's final game between Braga and the Magpies, a system will come into play which means both teams get a point for each successful kick. But if Newcastle beat the Portuguese side, the trophy will be theirs.

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT UPDATES

And that concludes matters - even though it's level, both teams get a point for each goal and so there is no winner after all!

Mehdi Abeid for Newcastle... scores. It's all square now as Abeid sends the ball right in the corner (4-4)

Andreas Tatos for Olympiakos... saved. Krul flies to his left to parry (3-4)

James Perch for Newcastle... scores. Perchino the penalty king - he sends Carroll the wrong way despite being stopped by the referee in his initial run-up. (3-4)

Jose Holebas for Olympiakos... scores. Krul again guesses wrong. (2-4)

Romain Amalfitano for Newcastle... scores. The ball goes one way, Carroll goes the other and United are still in this. (2-3)

Marko Pantelic for Olympiakos... scores. He didn't look too sure with his run-up, but sent Krul the wrong way (1-3)

Haris Vuckic for Newcastle... scores. Good penalty - Carroll guess correctly but he had no chance of keeping that out. (1-2)

Maniatis for Olympiakos... scores. Krul goes the right way but it's right in the corner. (0-2)

Papiss Cisse for Newcastle... misses. He blazes it well over the bar. (0-1)

Djamel Abdoun for Olympiakos... scores. Echoes of Andrea Pirlo's penalty against England as he tickles it down the middle as Krul goes right. (0-1)

SECOND HALF UPDATES

90+3mins: It's finished 1-1 and so we have a penalty shoot-out to look forward to as a winner is needed to help determine who wins the Trofeu Internacional de Futebol do Guadiana.

90mins: There will be three minutes of added time here - and if there are no more goals, it goes straight to penalties!

89mins: After Sammy Ameobi is fouled, Abeid goes for goal from a 30-yard free-kick but it zips well wide. And as Roy Carroll takes an age to retrieve the ball, he is booked for time-wasting - in a friendly!

87mins: Goalscorer Mitroglou has been replaced by Karagounis Vasileios for the final three minutes.

82mins: Three chances in one move for Newcastle, but none of them are taken. Amalfitano dinks the ball in from the left to Cisse to head powerfully towards goal, but Carroll makes an outstanding point-blank save. Cisse is first to the loose ball, though, and tries to force it home only to hit the post, and then Amalfitano shoots into the side netting as the ball runs to him.

79mins - OLYMPIAKOS GOAL (1-1): Two subs combine to equalise for Olympiakos. Abdoun sprints down the left and into the box, before pulling the ball back for Mitroglou to fire home from 12 yards out, so there will be no clean sheet for Tim Krul on his first appearance of the summer.

78mins: Mitroglou gets some space and lets fly from 20 yards but he doesn't strike it cleanly and drags his effort wide of the far post.

74mins - RED CARD: Olympiakos defender Francois Modeste sees red for a second bookable offence. This one was for a bad challenge by the touchline on Amalfitano, while the first had been for a high foot on Vuckic - and he only came on at half-time. So Newcastle now have a man advantage as well as a one-goal advantage.

72mins: Krul makes another stop, this time to deny Pantelic, after a ball over the top almost caught Newcastle out and Alan Pardew responds by bringing on Sammy Ameobi for Gabriel Obertan and Papiss Cisse for Shola Ameobi.

69mins: Olympiakos skipper Torosidis Vasileios makes way for Marko Pantelic.

62mins: Abdoun looks lively for the Greeks after his half-time arrival and as he cuts inside from the left, Krul has to position himself well to keep out his driven effort.

58mins: Mitroglou tries to connect to a low left-wing cross six yards from goal, but is denied by a superb block from Dummett who just got enough in the way to steer the ball away from goal. That was great defending from the 20-year-old.

56mins: An inswinging free-kick from Djamel Abdoun evades everybody and looks to be going in, but it stays out - possibly via a touch from Krul although it was hard to see what exactly prevented it from the crossing the line. At the other end, James Perch finds himself with a shooting opportunity inside the box as United break and his effort is rather unconventionally kept out by Carroll.

53mins: Haris Vuckic is booked, along with Olympiakos sub Francois Modesto, after the United man reacts to a high boot by tugging his opponent back from his position on the ground. Referee Joao Ferreira deemed both offences worthy of a yellow card despite this being a friendly game.

47mins: Quick interplay from Olympiakos tees up one of the subs, Kostas Mitroglou, for a shot from the edge of the area which Krul is equal to and holds at the second attempt.

46mins: It's one Geordie defender on for another at the break as young Paul Dummett replaces Steven Taylor at centre-back. The Greeks have also made several changes and have now got the second period underway.

FIRST HALF UPDATES

45mins: After a little bit of injury time, the half-time whistle blows and United lead thanks to Steven Taylor's goal. The defender has been solid at the back, too, in his first appearance for nearly eight months but it's been a fairly uneventful half, with both sides happy to keep possession as much as possible but only a few genuine chances at either end.

40mins: After Shola Ameobi's superb touch with his chest sets him clear, Gabriel Obertan races down the right and tries to pick out Vuckic, who has ran as quickly as he can to get into the box, but an Olympiakos defender gets the slightest of touches to take the ball away from the Slovenian and prevent him from connecting at the far post.

36mins: Now Djebbour Rafik has a go from distance, with a low strike whick Krul gathers easily. The Greeks have responded well since going behind but most of their efforts are coming from outside the box. Meanwhile, Newcastle are forced into a change as Dan Gosling is replaced by Mehdi Abeid. Gosling looked like he had taken a whack to the ribs and it's a shame for him, as he was looking to make the most of a chance to shine tonight.

32mins: Marinaldo da Silva tries his luck from a 25-yard free-kick and it almost finds its way in, with Krul using his legs to block after the ball swerved in front of him.

25mins (NEWCASTLE GOAL (1-0): Newcastle have the lead and it'll go down as a goal for Steven Taylor on his first appearance since December. After Roy Carroll flapped away an Amalfitano corner, Gosling retreived the ball with a direct dart down the right-hand side of the box and a low cutback which was half-cleared by an Olympiakos defender. The ball hit Obertan, though, and fell for Taylor who struck home a deflected strike - it was clear from his celebration how much that meant to him after eight months of injury hell.

21mins: Olympiakos' first shot on target comes courtesy of Diogo Luis Santo - wearing the number 87 shirt - and it's held by Krul. A couple of players have slipped on the pitch in the last few minutes and after Perch became the latest, the Greeks took advantage and worked the ball to Luis Santo, whose effort was well struck but too close to Krul, who caught it just above waist height to his left.

16mins: Dan Gosling's quickly-taken free-kick from just inside the Olympiakos half finds Obertan, who runs down the left and backheels to Ameobi. His first attempt at a cross is cut out but his second finds Haris Vuckic, who tries to flick it in but fails to catch out Carroll. So far Newcastle have shaded this although the Greeks have occasionally looked slick in possession.

9mins: From a hanging Davide Santon free-kick from inside the centre-circle, Shola Ameobi connects with a towering header which looks destined for the bottom corner but is somehow tipped around the post by Roy Carroll, the former Manchester United goalkeeper.

8mins: There isn't much of atmosphere inside the stadium, which holds 30,000 but barely 1,000 of those seats are full tonight, and the action on the pitch has been fairly low key so far although we've seen a couple of lovely touches from Gabriel Obertan and Romain Amalfitano.

1min: We're underway here at the Estadio Algarve. Newcastle are in black and white while the Greek champions are in all white and Haris Vuckic and Shola Ameobi have got the game started on what is a cool evening here in Portugal.

Newcastle United (4-4-1-1): Tim Krul; James Perch, Steven Taylor (Paul Dummett 46), Mike Williamson, Davide Santon; Gabriel Obertan (Sammy Ameobi 72), Gael Bigirimana, Dan Gosling (Mehdi Abeid 36), Romain Amalfitano; Haris Vuckic; Shola Ameobi (c) (Papiss Cisse 72)

Subs not used: Steve Harper, Fabricio Coloccini, Danny Simpson, James Tavernier, Ryan Taylor, Jonas Gutierrez, Cheick Tiote, Sylvain Marveaux

Olympiakos (4-4-1-1): Roy Carroll; Tasos Papazoglou, Fejsa, Djebbour Rafik, Giannis Fetzatzidis, Siovas Dimitris, Dielna Claude, Vlahodimos, Marinaldo da Silva, Diogo Luis Santo, Torosidis Vasileios (c)

Substitutes: Balazs Attila Megyeri, Maniatis, Francois Modesto, Marko Pantelic, Kostas Mitroglou, Jose Holebas, Andreas Tatos, Manolas Konstantinos, Likoeannis Ch, Karagounis Vasileios, Giannis Potouridis, Djamel Abdoun 

Referee: Joao Ferreira