Leeds United played out a controversial draw with Aston Villa on Sunday.
Mateusz Klich has admitted to LUTV that he knew Aston Villa’s Jonathan Kodjia was down injured at the time of his opener for Leeds United in Sunday’s dramatic 1-1 draw at Elland Road.
Leeds saw their automatic promotion hopes officially dashed after failing to get the three points needed to keep their slim chances of pipping Sheffield United to second spot alive.
But the main headlines centered around the controversy surrounding both goals.
Klich stroked an opener past Jed Steer on 72 minutes after Aston Villa players had stopped playing due to an injury to Kodjia.
Mayhem ensued as both sets of players found themselves in a lengthy melee which resulted in Anwar El Ghazi being sent off for the Villans.
Whites boss Bielsa instructed his Leeds stars to let Aston Villa equalise from kickoff and 10 of them complied, but Pontus Jansson tried in vain to stop Albert Adomah from scoring.
Klich told LUTV: “I’ve seen he’s injured and I shouldn’t have done this, but it’s already too late to talk about. It happened. We gave them a goal. It finished 1-1 and we need to move on.”
Asked if it was the right decision by Bielsa, Klich added “It’s not for me to say. We gave them the goal. There were riots on the pitch! They were happy with the goal as well.”
Bielsa, who looked furious at Jansson for disobeying his orders, has been praised for the sportsmanship, though by the letter of law United scored a valid goal.
Kodjia was not down with a head injury, nor had referee Stuart Atwell blown the whistle to signal a stoppage.
Avoiding defeat at Ipswich Town next Sunday will confirm Leeds’ third-placed finish.
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