Speaking on the Official Leeds United Podcast, Jermaine Beckford relayed a conversation he had with Gaetano Berardi after his final game for Leeds United.
The Swiss defender’s long Elland Road career came to an end last weekend as he stepped onto the pitch as a Leeds player for the final time, and it’s fair to say it was an emotional affair.
Berardi told Beckford that he wasn’t that sad when he was substituted, but once his teammates began to say their goodbyes, he began to feel the emotions.
What’s been said?
Beckford caught up with Berardi after the match and he’s relayed the conversation the pair had.
“It was phenomenal, genuinely phenomenal. I had a chat with both of the boys afterwards about it, and I said to Berardi ‘how were you feeling when you were coming off?’ and he said ‘when my number came up I knew that it was the last time I was going to play, but it wasn’t an issue, and then Cooper came up to me and said ‘we’re going to miss you, we’re going to absolutely miss you’ and by the second or third person that came over I was in buckets of tears.’ And this is a man who has led the line incredibly wear and worn the badge with so much pride and he’s hard as nails.”
Perfect send-off
As far as departures go, Berardi has left Leeds in one of the best ways possible.
He started his first ever Premier League game at Elland Road in front of a returning fanbase that haven’t been in the stadium for almost a year and a half.
To make things even better, Leeds won on the day, and supporters were there to sound their admiration for the long-serving centre-back.
Berardi may be gone from Leeds, but he certainly won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
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