Celtic shine after Newcastle howler, Hibs fall flat, EPL side beat Aberdeen, new signings - friendly round-up

More than 10,000 Newcastle supporters made the trip to Glasgow to watch their side in action against the Scottish Premiership champions, but they were given little to cheer about as the Magpies were a clear second best in their first friendly of the season.

Celtic built upon their 2-0 win on Wednesday over Sporting CP with a strong performance - although they were given a helping hand by some slapdash defending from the visitors.

Celtic took the lead on 28 minutes when Arne Engels converted from the penalty spot following a foul by Joe Willock. And the hosts doubled their advantage right on half time when Newcastle keeper Nick Pope misjudged the flight of a Kasper Schmeichel clearance, the ball bouncing over his head and allowing Johnny Kenny a simple tap-in.

Winger Yang Hjun-jun made it 3-0 on 52 minutes after good work from Daizen Maeda before Liam Scales completed the scoring on 79 minutes.

Scotland defender Kieran Tierney, who rejoined Celtic earlier this summer after six seasons at Arsenal, came on as a second half substitute and set up Scales’ goal.

Celtic’s new striker could feature

Celtic now head to Italy next week to play in the inaugural Como Cup ahead of the domestic season starting on August 3. Their first match is against Ajax on Thursday and they may have striker Shin Yamada in their squad after his £1.5million switch from Kawaski Frontale was confirmed on Saturday morning.

Elsewhere, both Dundee United and Hibs were action ahead of their European assignments next week.

Jim Goodwin’s Tangerines start off their Conference League qualifying campaign against Una Strassen of Luxembourg at Tannadice on Thursday night and they signed off their pre-season campaign with a goalless draw against English League Two outfit Oldham Athletic.

New signings Yevhenii Kucherenko, Amar Fatah, Iurie Iovu, Krisztian Keresztes, Dario Naamo, Isaac Pappoe, Zak Sapsford, Ivan Dolcek and Max Watters appeared against the Latics, who are managed by former United boss Micky Mellon.

Hibs also play on Thursday night in the Europa League second qualifying round. They head to Denmark to take on FC Midtjylland in Herning on Thursday and prepared for that encounter with a 2-0 defeat at home to Bolton Wanderers in Darren McGregor’s testimonial match.

After a goalless first half, the English League One side took the lead on 56 minutes through a fine individual strike from Amario Cozier-Duberry and they sealed the win four minutes from tie through Sonny Sharples Ahmed.

Hibs let midfielder leave

Hibs, who earlier in the day announced that midfielder Allan Delferriere had left the club by mutual consent, fielding a strong team. Club record signing Thibault Klidje came on as a substitute following his £1m move from Luzern earlier in the week.

Aberdeen do not enter Europe until next month and they continued their pre-season preparations with a closed-door friendly at Fulham Athletic’s Motspur Park training ground.

Despite taking an early lead through striker Kusini Yengi, the English Premier League side flexed their muscles and netted four goals of their own through Harry Wilson (2), Rodrigo Muniz and Josh King.

The Dons announced the return of central defender Alfie Dorrington earlier on Saturday, who has returned for the 2025/26 campaign on loan from Tottenham Hotspur after spending the second half of last season at Pittodrie.