SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Tottenham Hotspur midfielder James Maddison has suffered what looks like a relapse of last season's knee injury in a pre-season friendly game against Newcastle United here on Sunday.

The 28-year-old had only been on the pitch for 11 minutes when he suffered the injury to his right knee, minutes from the end of the 1-1 draw against Newcastle United.

He stopped running in obvious pain, before being carried off the pitch in tears.

Speaking after the game, Spurs coach Thomas Frank said he believed Maddison had suffered the same injury that saw him miss six games at the end of last season.

"James Maddison's injury looks bad. It was a brutal moment," Frank said after the game. We're pretty sure it was the same knee he injured before," he confirmed.

The coach compared Maddison's injury, with the sendoff fans in Korea gave Son Heung-Min, who announced that he was leaving Tottenham after 10 years with the club.

"Sometimes in life and football things can be both beautiful and brutal; that's what we got today. It looks like with Maddison's bad injury and then on the other side unbelievable scenes for Son from his teammates and the respect from the Newcastle players," he said. ■