Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips has stated on his Instagram story that Conor Gallagher took his hard-hitting tackle ‘like a champ’.
On Tuesday night, Leeds recorded a late 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, with both Gallagher and Phillips playing the entire game for their respective sides.
During the game, Phillips went in for a crunching tackle after the ball fell loose, which was posted by Leeds’ official Twitter account.
Straight after the tackle, even though it seemed like a pretty painful one, Gallagher got straight back up and took it like a pro.
The goalscoring midfielder didn’t moan to the referee, nor did he roll around the floor looking for a foul.
Whilst it would have only been for a short period, both Phillips and Gallagher would have probably been involved in similar situations during England training last month.
Gallagher earned his maiden call by Gareth Southgate and he will be hoping that there are many more to come.
Nonetheless, when reacting to his own tackle on Gallagher, Leeds’ man in the middle, posted this on his IG story: “@ConorGallagher92 Shook it off like a champ.”
There’s no doubt that the duo will have plenty more battles down the line, both for their club and with one another on the international stage.
Whilst Phillips was England’s Player of the Year and now a fully-fledged international, Gallagher is just entering that scene.
Ironically enough, he could have been playing alongside the Chelsea loanee this season had he opted to join the Yorkshire side following their interest.
But given the performances Gallagher is putting up at Selhurst Park, albeit he was quiet at Elland Road on Tuesday, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he becomes a regular for Chelsea next season.
The likes of Mason Mount, Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James are proving that there is now space for the academy stars to shine on the first-team stage.
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