By George Overhill

19th Mar, 2023 | 1:10pm

Wolves vs Leeds United: 'Shock' at Diego Costa in 'ridiculous' chaos as Julen Lopetegui goes crazy - BT Sport pundits

The chaos as Leeds United defeated Wolves was branded “ridiculous” by Michael Brown with Julen Lopetegui “going crazy” on the touchline.

The manager lost it as his side fell to a 4-2 defeat against the Whites in a wild match, and there was sarcastic “shock” at Diego Costa’s presence in the melee that saw substitute Matheus Nunes shown a red card, and then genuine surprise that the infamous striker was actually playing peace maker.

A VAR check deep into stoppage time allowed Rodrigo’s fourth goal for Leeds to stand, sparking fury from Lopetegui and nearly everyone else on the Wolves bench, and saw Nunes shown his side’s second red of the afternoon.

Reacting to footage of the melee live on BT Sport Score (18 March, 4.59pm) host Jules Breach said: “Shock, Diego Costa’s involved.”

Before an amazed James Horncastle pointed out: “He’s the peacemaker!”

Attempting to relay what he was seeing Michael Brown said: “It’s ridiculous… Lopetegui, he’s in the middle of it, hair all wet, shouting. He’s going crazy. All the substitutes are getting involved out on the pitch.”

Breach summed up, saying: “Six-goal thriller. It’s Matheus Nunes who was sent off and it’s gone down as abusive language we’re hearing there.”

Disarray

It was one of those days where everything happened, and not a millions miles away from how this fixture went exactly a year ago, when Wolves were also furious to have a man sent off and lose a dramatic encounter.

Luke Ayling’s last two Leeds United goals have now come in the same net exactly 12 months apart, with his botched attempt to recreate the Robbie Keane celebration getting a run out both times.

Last season Wolves ran out to a 3-0 lead before Raul Jimenez’s sending off saw Jesse Marsch’s side mount a stirring comeback, whereas this time it was Javi Gracia’s Whites who somehow went ahead by three goals.

Jonny and Matheus Cunha pulled two back before the former was rightly sent off for an awful challenge on Ayling, which derailed the revival before Rodrigo’s lovely late fourth.

It was a measure of the incredible drama on the day that the result could have gone either way, Ayling had an awful game but proved to be one of the heroes, and one of the Premier League’s all-time pantomime bad guys in Costa was actually working to defuse anger at the end.

The result sends Gracia’s side all the way up to 14th, and will mean an international break free of stress for once, even if the deceptive four-place gap to the relegation places is actually only two points wide.

Either way, it is a lot more comfortable than 19th where they started the day, and if Whites fans could get the entertainment and the points of visits to Molineux every week they’d probably sign up immediately.

In other Leeds United news, one player was accused of having “committed the ultimate sin” as pundits winced at the footage.

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