Leeds United defender Pontus Jansson has had his say on the events that marred his side's encounter with Aston Villa on Sunday.
After Mateusz Klich scored for Leeds, when their opponents were expecting them to put the ball out of play due to a Jonathan Kodja injury, manager Marcelo Bielsa ordered his team to let the Villans score unopposed at the other end.
Most Leeds players acquiesced to their manager's request, letting Albert Adomah bring the game back on level terms at the other end. Jansson, however, had other ideas and attempted prevent the goal, ignoring the wishes of his manager.
The Swedish player's actions caused some of his teammates to have rather heated exchanges with the defender, while Bielsa wasn't exactly pleased about being defied by one of his players either.
Speaking at club's awards night on Sunday evening, the centre-half put forward his side of the story. He said:
I’m a defender, I want to have a clean sheet.
I work hard for 90 minutes to keep a clean sheet and so to let another team score, for me that’s hard.
Goalscorer Klich also had his say on the game's bizarre events:
I scored, they told us we should have kicked the ball out and it all kicked off.
We let them score and fair enough, it finished 1-1.
The result meant Sheffield United were guaranteed promotion to the Premier League, while both Aston Villa and Leeds United must now grapple for the final promotion spot up to the top division.
The likelihood of another Leeds United and Aston Villa clash, this time at Wembley, looks increasingly likely, though West Brom and a number of other clubs vying for sixth place will be keen to have a say yet.
