Bruno Guimaraes gives Newcastle United teammate classy nickname after 17-word Spurs message

Goalkeeper Mark Gillespie wore the captain’s armband as he helped Newcastle United to a 5-4 penalty shootout win against Tottenham Hotspur in Melbourne.

After Alexander Isak cancelled out James Maddison’s opener in the first half, the match ended 1-1 after 90 minutes with Gillespie introduced in place of Nick Pope in the final moments.

With no other senior players on the pitch, Gillespie was given the captain’s armband and went on to save the opening penalty of the shootout taken by Spurs’ Bryan Gil. Newcastle’s youngsters proceeded to convert all five of their spot kicks to give the side the win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

After the match, Gillespie took to Instagram to post a picture of himself in the shootout with the caption: “Canny cameo at the MCG! Amazing to see all the support here in Melbourne for the Mags.”

The post was met by several responses from his Newcastle teammates saying effectively the same thing.

Anthony Gordon, Elliot Anderson, Jacob Murphy and Joe Willock all replied with variations of calling Gillespie ‘skipper’ while Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes replied with the Portuguese variation: “Capitão ❤️.”

It was a rare outing for Gillespie, who hasn’t played a competitive game for Newcastle since 2020. But the goalkeeper remains a popular figure behind the scenes with head coach Eddie Howe paying tribute to him after the game.

“The work this guy has put in this season has just been incredible and too often we’ll always talk about the players who are playing but never enough about the players who aren’t playing who contribute so much and Mark is one of those,” Howe said. “His attitude to training is ridiculous every day.

“Day in, day out, he’s always there for the players to help them get better and you need a goalkeeper who is going to be there and train every day and be as consistent as Mark is.

“Those experiences for Mark, I’m so pleased for him because of what he gives every day. There are a lot of players like Mark in the squad that characterise our success. I just wanted to say that to Mark and share that moment with him.”