Newcastle United player ratings v Urawa: 'Irresistible' 8/10 & 'clumsy' 5/10 as Joe Willock shines in 4-1 win

Urawa 1-4 Newcastle United player ratings: Here’s how Alexander Isak, Joe Willock, Joelinton and co fared at the Saitama Stadium.

Newcastle United beat Urawa Red Diamonds 4-1 at the Saitama Stadium in Japan - here are the player ratings from the match.

Alexander Isak opened the scoring inside the opening two minutes with a fine finish from the edge of the box. It was the Swede’s third goal in as many pre-season outings so far. A Jacob Murphy brace and a strike from Lewis Hall

Rio Nitta then drew the hosts level with a close-range finish from Yusuke Matsuo’s low cross into the box. Urawa then had a great opportunity to take the lead after Tino Livramento’s foul on the edge of the box was deemed to be a penalty.

Tomoaki Okubo stepped up and saw his spot-kick saved by Nick Pope - who continued his impressive pre-season form since returning from a long-term shoulder injury.

Nitta almost scored again in the build-up to half-time after dispossessing Lewis Hall but was denied by a stunning save from Pope.

After a strong start to the match from Newcastle, Urawa had grown back into the match in the hot and humid conditions. Still it was The Magpies who ended the half the stronger with Harvey Barnes seeing a shot saved by goalkeeper Ayumi Niekawa before Joe Willock set up Jacob Murphy to make it 2-1 on the stroke of half-time.

Murphy then made it 3-1 shortly after half-time with a composed finish into the bottom left corner. Lewis Hall made it 4-1 with an effort from distance that deflected heavily into the bottom right corner.

Then the second-half substitutes followed as Newcastle saw out a convincing friendly win with a young side.

Here are the full-time Newcastle United ratings from the match...

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