Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Marcelo Bielsa has been full of praise for Harvey Elliott for how he’s handled himself in the wake of his injury.
Elliott suffered a horrific injury against Leeds on Sunday, and there has been plenty of fallout after the incident, especially surrounding Pascal Struijk.
Leeds attempted to appeal the red card, but their pleas fell on deaf ears as the FA upheld his ban.
Despite the FA ruling that Struijk was in the wrong, Elliott has been staunch in his defence of Struijk, stating on numerous occasions on Instagram that the injury wasn’t the Leeds ace’s fault.
What’s been said?
Bielsa was full of praise for Bielsa.
“The generosity Elliott had to describe things as they were, it helps to ease the effect on Pascal. The footballers always end up being the most pure thing in football, the players say what they think without speculating. When the injury to Elliott happened, the demands of it was explicit, the convenience of playing half an hour with one player less, behind evidently a grave injury to player, the pressure of the referee had that intention. But the players are a lot less speculative than us,” Bielsa said.
“I value a lot what Elliott [said that] made Pascal exempt.”
Handled it perfectly
It would have been so easy for Elliott to hold a grudge against Struijk for injuring him, but he’s been very mature about this.
Elliott is 18 years old and he’s just had an injury that will affect his season and perhaps even his career, but he’s gone out to bat for his fellow professional, proclaiming that the dislocated ankle wasn’t his fault and that he shouldn’t have been suspended.
The Liverpool ace had handled this absolutely perfectly and it’s been great to see Elliott defend Struijk, especially as the centre-back could have been really affected by what happened at Elland Road on Sunday.
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