NEWCASTLE UNITED’S players have been told to treat tomorrow’s friendly with Royal Antwerp seriously or risk the occasion being a pointless exercise after travelling to Spain.

The Magpies trained in the Costa Blanca town of Algorfa yesterday and will do so again today ahead of the meeting with the Belgians.

It will be a major surprise if Islam Slimani, who has travelled with the squad, will be risked against Antwerp because he has been given his own training plan to stick to.

Rafa Benitez is keen for Slimani to build up his fitness but will not hand the striker any time during the three 45-minute periods tomorrow if he does not think he can handle it.

Benitez is determined to give all of his players time on the pitch with a further two weeks until Newcastle are back in action – in another important fixture at the bottom end of the table against Huddersfield on March 31.

The Spanish trip has also provided January signings Martin Dubravka, Kenedy and Slimani to spend more time with the rest of the group in a condensed space of time.

Dubravka said: "We’ve gone to Spain and hopefully we’ll have some nice days and then after two weeks we have our next game, so we have to keep focused and keep going.

"I am really looking forward to spending this time with my team-mates. You need to spend time with the players in your squad to be able to get to know them better.

"It's only for four days, but the weather is great in Spain, we can enjoy training outside and spend some time doing fun activity after training. It is important to keep the mind focused, but also enjoy some fun with my team-mates and get to know them better."

Newcastle have overtaken Huddersfield recently but, with just a point separating the two, both still need to keep performing and securing results to stay clear of the bottom three.

Dubravka said: "Huddersfield is a huge game, but our focus is only on playing against Royal Antwerp. If we look only into the game against Huddersfield, then we will not be ready in our minds for this game - and we want to win it.”

While the three weeks between club fixtures suggests some time off, Dubravka certainly hasn’t got much time to spend at home getting to find out more about the region.

After returning from Spain tomorrow night, the Sparta Prague goalkeeper faces an 11-hour flight from his Slovakian homeland to Thailand ahead of the game with the United Arab Emirates on March 22 . The winners will face either Thailand or Gabon later that week in Bangkok.

The trek is hardly the ideal preparation for a goalkeeper who has started well at Newcastle, where he is expected to complete a £4.6m permanent move in the summer if Benitez keeps them up.

Dubravka said: "I'm really looking forward to playing for the national team again - but it's a long way to Thailand! I don't like to travel for ten hours on a plane, but I am really looking forward to playing again with the national team. We are like a family, that's why we were successful in the few games before I came to England. I'm very much looking forward to that.”

Dubravka will not be the only Newcastle player on the move during international break, with eight others named in squads.

Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino has been called up by his country’s Under-21s to face Northern Ireland and Estonia.