Rio Ferdinand makes 'Crazy' Leeds admission as he hails what Daniel Farke told players vs Man Utd

Rio Ferdinand admits the Leeds United fans played their role in their side's 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Sunday.

It was an exciting game at Elland Road, not least because of the hostilities between the two sets of supporters.

Leeds players, especially, showed a lot of fight and gave Man United a really good game as Dominic Calvert-Lewin bagged his fourth goal of the season to earn a point against Michael Carrick's struggling side.

All in all, a draw was perhaps a fair result, but Leeds' wait to win against Man United at Elland Road is now likely to extended to a quarter of a century.

Bryan Mbeumo's first-half goal was a deserved one for the visitors, who did look the more likely of the two teams in the opening exchanges.

However, a Leeds side revitalised after the break seized their opportunity when Calvert-Lewin scored after a Tarik Muharemovic knock-down at a corner kick.

Rio Ferdinand's Leeds admission

It would be an understatement to say that Ferdinand is unpopular with Leeds fans, having forced his way out of Elland Road to sign for Manchester United in 2002.

However, the ex-defender remains respectful of the Elland Road faithful, saying that they would have played a role in getting their team up for the game against Man United on Sunday.

"Today, the Leeds fans are up for that game. They can't wait for it. It's the biggest game on their calendar," said Ferdinand on his YouTube channel.

"They would have made that place a hostile environment."

Ferdinand added: "The fire, the venom in the stadium for that game - especially at Elland Road - is different to any other fixture I encountered.

"The way the fans get up for it, the hatred they have for Manchester United, especially, is crazy."

What Ferdinand made of Leeds' performance vs Man United

Leeds looked improved after the half-time break, and Ferdinand reckons that a change in approach from Daniel Farke would have led to them getting the breakthrough via Calvert-Lewin.

"Credit to Leeds," he added. "They came out, they changed the speed of the game, they upped the intensity and the instructions from their manager was to keep crossing the ball.

"Cross the ball against Man United, you're going to get chances.

"A corner comes in and we weren't good enough defending it and Calvert-Lewin, who's been very good for Leeds this year, comes up with a great finish in that situation."

And the stats back up Ferdinand's analysis, too.

According to Sofascore, Leeds attempted 10 crosses in the first half, completing just one of them.

After the break, the Whites made 19 crosses into the box, with three of them finding a target.

James Justin (7), Jayden Bogle (6) and Gabriel Gudmundsson (6) all attempted the most crosses but neither bogle or Gudmundsson found a teammate with any of theirs.

It was Anton Stach who was Leeds' most successful deliverer of the ball from out side, completing three of his four crosses.