Mirco Antenucci and Ronaldo Vieira’s Leeds United careers overlapped very briefly.
Just as Mirco Antenucci’s Leeds United career was coming to an end, Ronaldo Vieira’s only just getting started.
Vieira made his debut for Leeds on the same day as Antenucci’s swansong, a 1-1 draw at Preston on the final day of the 2015-16 season.
Both players were substitutes at Deepdale, and only shared the pitch with one another for a matter of minutes.
The Italian striker wound up joining S.P.A.L in his homeland, while the 20-year-old midfielder would enjoy two excellent full seasons at Elland Road, before moving to Sampdoria this past summer.
As fate would have it, Vieira could have faced his former Whites team-mate in a Coppa Italia clash on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t to be.
Antenucci, now 34, never made it off the bench as Sampdoria beat S.P.A.L 2-1 last night.
They didn’t even come up against each in the Serie A meeting in September, with Vieira an unused substitute on that occasion.
Despite only managing 19 goals in 75 Championship outings for Leeds, Antenucci has proven himself a very able hitman in Italy’s top flight, netting 14 for the Ferrara-based side since their promotion in 2017.
Vieira, who left Leeds for £7 million, initially struggled in Italy and was an unused sub for nine successive games, but fans of the West Yorkshire club will be happy to hear that he has started three of their last four games across all competitions and seems to be finding his feet.
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