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United head to Portugal for second pre-season camp of summer
Written by Dan King
Eddie Howe's first team squad are travelling to Portugal for a six-day training camp - their second overseas trip of the month following a valuable nine-day stay in Austria earlier this summer.
The Magpies are due to arrive in Lisbon on Friday evening and will continue to step up their preparations for the upcoming Premier League campaign with some warm-weather training and a behind-closed-doors training game as well as taking on Benfica, who reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League last term, in a showpiece friendly.
They will play for the Eusébio Cup at the iconic Estádio da Luz on Tuesday, 26th July, with an 8pm (local time) kick-off, in their fourth warm-up game of the summer. Tickets are priced at £17.50 and are on sale to Members, with more details here.
Speaking to NUFC TV ahead of the camp, Howe said: "The big difference between the two camps is there was a lot of training in Austria behind the scenes - we had two games but we trained really hard. In Portugal we've got a shorter time but we've still got the two games, so it'll be about getting the lads fresh for the games.
"I want good performances in those matches and it'll be minimal training time. I think it's important that we build the minutes for the individuals - they've had a taste of two 45 minutes, some have had 60; now we're looking for 90."
Howe's men have already faced Gateshead, 1860 Munich and Mainz 05 and will entertain Atalanta on Friday, 29th July (kick-off 7.45pm BST) and Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, 30th July (kick-off 3pm BST) at St. James' Park when they return from Portugal. Tickets for both of those matches are available online at book.nufc.co.uk.
Supporters can go behind-the-scenes of Newcastle United's visit to Portugal with exclusive content across nufc.co.uk, NUFC TV and the club's official social media channels.
"There was a lot of training in Austria... in Portugal we've got a shorter time but we've still got the two games, so it'll be about getting the lads fresh for the games."