Leeds United drew 1-1 with Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has told the Daily Mail that he thinks Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa did the right thing against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Leeds went into Sunday’s game with Villa knowing that they had to win to keep a slim, slim chance of automatic promotion, having seen Sheffield United beat Ipswich Town 2-0 on Saturday.
Only two wins a ridiculous goal swing could save Leeds from the playoffs, but they were taking on a Villa side who had won 10 league games in a row, making it a tough encounter for any team.
With 20 minutes to go, it looked like the game would end 0-0. However, total chaos ensued after Jonathan Kodjia went down with an injury following a challenge with Liam Cooper.
Tyler Roberts slowed down, seemingly set to put the ball out of play. However, he instead played the ball forward to Mateusz Klich as Villa players stopped, and the Polish midfielder hammered home the opening goal.
Villa players were incensed, Anwar El Ghazi was sent off for ‘striking’ Patrick Bamford despite no contact being made, and Bielsa ordered his players to allow Villa to score from the kick off, with Albert Adomah walking forward to score – though had to ride a challenge from Pontus Jansson as he seemingly didn’t get the message.
You’d have to watch a lot of football to see scenes like these again, and Bielsa’s decision has widely been praised – and now even by promotion rival Wilder, who has now celebrated his side going up after Leeds failed to win.
Wilder has admitted that Bielsa made the right call, giving him 100% credit for making such a great decision, whilst calling him a ‘true football man’.
“Absolute 100 per cent credit to Marcelo Bielsa,” said Wilder. “There is a true football man there and he made that right call. Obviously it’s gone against them but it was the right call,” he added.
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