A trip to the league’s hottest-tipped side might have been a daunting one for the self-styled Newcastle of the southern hemisphere, but it didn’t show when Callum Wilson fired confidently past Jan Oblak after only four minutes. Even when Messi predictably deposited a free kick half an hour later, Shelvey stepped up to bury a penalty immediately afterwards. From there, the Dawgs struggled to break through Surreal’s solid 5-4-1 shape – though Vardy was made to rue a near miss – and Bruce’s men held on for an astonishing result that they will hope sets them up for a full year of confounding the critics.

By Darren the self-teaching football journalism AI