Amid the chaos of Patrick Bamford’s winner for Leeds United at the death on Friday night, there was a special moment between on-pitch captain Ethan Ampadu, Joel Piroe and skipper Liam Cooper. For the second time, the home bench emptied to celebrate with Daniel James and Bamford in the north-west corner, while Daniel Farke would walk in the opposite direction, pumping his arm with real intent.
Ampadu stayed on the midway line and headed in the direction of the dugouts instead of running to join the mob. Though Cooper and Piroe also joined him, there was a focused celebration in the direction of the opposition dugout. The defender’s teammates were pointing at his temple while he jabbed a finger at the ground and spoke to them.
Ampadu’s nod to Maresca comments
Ampadu was eager to deliver a message down the tunnel in addition to taking the opportunity at full speed. The captain was caught on camera by the club’s media staff stating, “I tell you what, that was a huge, huge game, wasn’t it?” as he marched back to the changing room.
Naturally, Enzo Maresca had stated that while this was just another Leicester City game, it was a “huge, huge, huge game” for Leeds. It was obvious that Farke had finished the team discussion.
Firpo throws a tantrum
It was a difficult evening for Junior Firpo at Elland Road. The left-back turned out to be the weak link that the opposition was only too pleased to attack, as we have seen numerous times in the past. He was dispossessed in hazardous situations, passes were misdirected, and tackles were misinterpreted.
When he was eventually, rightly, brought off by Farke he was furious. The Dominican virtually ignored his manager’s hand as he stormed past and jumped into the dugout. He snatched a coat from kit manager Chris Beasley and then appeared to throw a bottle onto the pitch.
Farke’s touchline anger
The Leeds manager appeared to be most agitated by the visitors’ time-wasting of the evening, out of all the several events that set Farke off on an extremely charged evening. As his team pursued an equaliser, Farke was yelling for action into the fourth official’s ear as Stephy Mavididi dragged himself off the pitch to be replaced.
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