Sky Sports pundit blasts Raphinha for conceding penalty in Leeds 3-2 v Chelsea
Leeds United ace Raphinha was hero and villain during Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, scoring and conceding a penalty.
The Brazilian brought down Antonio Rudiger shortly after play restarted today (11 December), and Sky Sports pundit Efan Ekoku was far from impressed with his tackle, slamming him for it while on commentary duty on the world feed.
A penalty kick was awarded for the hosts after VAR intervened, and Jorginho converted to temporarily put his side ahead.
Ekoku said: “It’s a sloppy challenge from Raphinha, no doubt about that.”
Attacker’s challenge
The Leeds ace is a forward by trade, and he was too rash while trying to get the ball from the German centre-back.
He lost that battle in the end, and was duly punished by it.
The visitors drew level with nine minutes left after Joe Gelhardt came off the bench to score his first Premier League goal, but Mateusz Klich brought down Rudiger in the closing minutes of the game, and Jorginho scored his second from the spot.
Leeds would feel hard done by as they played well and should have left Stamford Bridge with at least a point, but three errors from them proved very costly in the end.
Raphinha cannot be blamed as he was only trying to help his defence out, but things did not go as he planned.
Leeds will now hope to do better when they travel to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City on Tuesday (14 December), and should they cut out the mistakes from their game, just anything is possible against Pep Guardiola’s side.
They need to pick up points this month to avoid slipping down the table and finding themselves in the relegation battle heading into the second-half of the season.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites have mapped out plans to avoid relegation scrap as January transfer budget claim emerges.