Leeds’ Ronaldo Vieira needs to redeem himself against Wolves

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Leeds United midfielder Ronaldo Vieira may well come back into the starting lineup for the Whites’ next Championship game.

On paper, it appears that Leeds’ most recent clash with Wolves was something of a calamity with Nuno Espirito Santo’s men running out 4-1 winners at Molineux back in November.

Leeds are not the only team that Wolves have picked apart this season, but it was still a hugely disappointing defeat that Paul Heckingbottom will be hoping is not repeated when the Championship leaders travel to Elland Road on Wednesday night.

But despite going 2-0 down inside 26 minutes, there was one stage in the previous meeting when the Whites looked as if they may have a chance of securing a positive result as Gjanni Alioski brilliantly halved the deficit three minutes into the second-half after a sublime pass from Samuel Saiz.

However, Leeds’ hopes of a comeback were quashed around 12 minutes later when Ronaldo Vieira picked up a second yellow card and was sent off, leaving the visitors chasing the game with 10 men and allowing Wolves to score twice more in the remaining half-hour.

For Vieira, it has been a difficult season. The midfielder struggled for game-time early on and has never quite managed the form that made him so impressive last year.

But with Heckingbottom throwing him on for the second-half at Middlesbrough on Friday, it may not be out of the question to suggest that he may come into the starting lineup and have a chance to redeem himself on Wednesday.

Vieira’s devastation at his red card was clear to see. It was difficult to criticise a young player who may well find it frustrating dealing with a niggling injury that is seemingly not allowing him to be quite as influential as last season, and probably let the frustration tempt him into a rash challenge on Diogo Jota.

But with confidence low after the Boro defeat, Vieira – if given the chance to start – needs to take the stranglehold on the game and dominate the midfield in the way that he did when he was at his best last season.

With Eunan O’Kane seriously struggling and Kalvin Phillips’ form also proving to be underwhelming, there is definitely an opening for Vieira to take advantage of. Securing redemption against the league leaders on Wednesday will be a great way for the 19-year-old to stake his claim to Heckingbottom.