Jack Harrison fired Leeds United to a massive win on Saturday.
Jack Harrison has paid tribute to Leeds United team-mate Gaetano Berardi for his performance in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
Harrison was the hero as his 65th-minute winner helped Leeds establish a three-point cushion in the automatic promotion places, with four Championship games to go.
The Whites pre-match plan was thrown into disarray when it emerged that captain Liam Cooper had to pull out of the first XI, with Berardi, who hadn’t started a game for United since October due to injury, becoming a last-minute replacement.
Harrison was photographed walking off the pitch with an injured Cooper at full time, and the Manchester City loanee reveals that he dedicated the goal to his skipper.
He told LUTV: “For me, I just said to Liam ‘that was for you’ because as a captain you want to be involved in these games with a lot of pressure. You can see by his face that it [the win] meant so much to him.
“It’s not ideal [Cooper’s injury]. We train very hard and we’ve been unfortunate with Liam. But Berra came in and had an impact. You can tell by the way he plays he’s so passionate. To have that depth is important. I thought he did very well.”
Berardi’s all-round display didn’t impress everyone, with a lot of Leeds fans saying he worried them during the game, but the Swiss defender did produce a potentially goal-saving block late on.
He had only played 25 minutes of football in any competition this calendar year, so a bit of rust was inevitable, but he acquitted himself well for the most part.
It remains to be seen whether Cooper will be fit for the Whites’ promotion run-in, with Marcelo Bielsa’s side hosting Wigan Athletic on Friday.
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