Leeds United have responded to the applause given to their manager by Arsene Wenger following a rare gesture made by the former.
The former Arsenal boss was in action on bein Sports for the game between Leeds United and Aston Villa which was filled with series of controversial scenes.
It all started when an Aston Villa player got injured and his teammates made calls for the ball to be played out so that he could be attended to by the medical team.
Leeds did not heed to the demand since the referee did not instruct them to do so. They played on and went on to score in the 79nd minute prior to which it was goalless.
Matters got worse for the losing side who then got one of their own sent off for what was a controversial decision.
As tension began to rise, Marcelo Bielsa, the Leeds boss, shouted to his players to allow Villa score, a decision which did not go down well with Pontus Jansson, a defender.
They did as he commanded and the equaliser came. This was despite the fact that Leeds United needed a win to boost their chances of getting automatic promotion to the Premier League.
This sacrificial move touched Wenger who praised the Leeds manager for his spirit of sportsmanship in the encounter that held on Sunday.
He said: "I would like to say thank you to Marcelo Bielsa for asking his players to let the goal in, that's a remarkable gesture.
"They play to come up to the Premier League, there's something at stake, it's absolutely remarkable.
"The players should not stop, if there's no head injury, only the referee can stop the game. Aston Villa should not have stopped, Leeds took advantage, that's where Leeds were guilty.
"It's remarkable from Marcelo Bielsa."
Reacting to Wenger's laudation, Leeds United, through their official Twitter handle revealed their age-long admiration of the Frenchman.
Always liked Arsene Wenger 👏 pic.twitter.com/zX3Ld3pwe0— Leeds United (@LUFC) April 29, 2019
What Bielsa did was a humane but costly gesture as his side will now likely have to participate in a play-off to see if they will earn promotion.
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