The Magpies picked up a narrow 1-0 victory to maintain their place in the Championship promotion race.
Newcastle United’s Christian Atsu
Christian Atsu has explained what Matt Ritchie told him before Newcastle United’s victory over Rotherham at the weekend, the Shields Gazette reports.
Rafael Benitez’s men picked up a narrow 1-0 win after Atsu – who was making his first league start of the season – netted shortly before the break.
Newcastle’s Matt Ritchie
And having told Ritchie ahead of their previous games that was he was expecting the former Bournemouth man to score, Atsu explained how the Scotland international returned the favour ahead of Saturday’s clash.
“The lads are great, and especially Matt Ritchie,” he said, as reported by the Shields Gazette.
“We play the same position. Any time he is going to the game, I tell him ‘you are going to score’. Today, when I was going to the game, he said ‘you have to score’.
“You can see we are supporting each other and also the fans are great supporters. I could hear them supporting throughout the game.”
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez
The interaction between the two surely highlights the brilliant team spirit within the Magpies’ squad. The two arguably both boast top flight quality, but are battling with one another for a place in Newcastle’s team.
Nevertheless, they have supported each other, seemingly as they know that maintaining that positive atmosphere will be the key to getting the best out of both men, which will, in turn, help the side hold onto that position in the Championship promotion race.
And with Atsu marking his first league start with the winning goal, it appears that the attempt to push each other is currently working perfectly.
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