Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa has told Leeds Live that Pascal Struijk suffered an injury in training before the match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Bielsa’s Leeds took on Chelsea away from home in London in the Premier League on Saturday.
Leeds lost 3-2.
Struijk was supposed to start the match, according to Bielsa, but the 22-year-old central defender injured himself during Friday’s training session.
That is also the reason why Bielsa had to make other changes to his team, which saw Jamie Shackleton play out wide.
Bielsa on Leeds duo Pascal Struijk and Jamie Shackleton
Bielsa told Leeds Live about Struijk: “He was going to play the game, and in yesterday’s training he had a movement, two of the bones in his foot collided and that produced a pain.
“There’s no risk, the pain is difficult to tolerate and the inflammation didn’t go down from yesterday to today and last minute we couldn’t count on him.”
The Leeds boss said about Shackleton: “That was the position in which Dallas was going to play. The defence was going to be Ayling, Llorente, Pascal and Junior.
“Pascal wasn’t able to be under consideration. Dallas played in place of Ayling, Ayling and Llorente played as a pair instead of Pascal and Llorente.
“And in front of Ayling, behind Raphinha, was given to Shackleton. It was a player we imagined could reproduce what Dallas could do in that position.”
Hoping for quick recovery
It will be interesting to see if Struijk recovers in time for Leeds’s next game.
Leeds will take on Manchester City away from home at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League on Tuesday evening.
In our opinion, Pep Guardiola’s side will head into the match as favourites.
After all, City are the defending Premier League champions, and they also have arguably the best squad in England.
However, in our view, if Struijk is able to play, then it will enhance Leeds’s chances of getting something from the game.
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