Jesse Marsch and Illan Meslier help rescue Leeds United fans' bitter fixture disappointment

Chris Garcia and Akshaay Ramanujam flew all the way from America to watch the Whites take on Chelsea and Crystal Palace, only to miss out when both games were rescheduled.

Chelsea's FA Cup semi-final involvement took that Elland Road game off the agenda, before TV selections moved the Palace clash to Monday night, a day after Garcia and Ramanujam are due to fly home.

To ensure the trip wasn't a complete waste they joined up with high school pal Daniel Deakin and drove up from London to watch the Under 23s game at home to Manchester City.

And when Garcia Tweeted about their trip, club owner Andrea Radrizzani responded and Elland Road staff swung into action to treat the trio to an unforgettable night.

"We were initially going to come and watch Chelsea here last Saturday but that game got moved, then we were going to watch Palace away but that got moved too, to Monday, and I go back on Sunday," Garcia told the YEP.

"We booked it back in November, we just wanted to catch two Premier League matches but we got zero."

The three went to high school together in Korea and Deakin's allegiance to the Whites, through his Leeds-born dad, eventually told.

"We used to give him a hard time for rooting for a club no one really knew about but I started following them and finally made a trip over in 2019 to watch them play West Brom, when Pablo Hernandez scored that goal inside 30 seconds," said Garcia.

"That's when I really started falling in love with the club. If it hadn't been for Covid I'd have come a lot more. I support the club as closely as I can from the US but it was really disappointing to miss these two games. I wanted to see them play in the Premier League."

Settling for the Premier League 2 clash wasn't such a bad consolation prize in the end, however.

"We still got to come to Elland Road and watched the Under 23s," he said.

"Driving up from London for four hours, it was so worth it. The fans in Leeds are top class. Being here, having the club treat me like this is unbelievable, it was class by the club to give us this experience.

"They let us come into the directors' club. I met Jermaine Beckford, Illan Meslier and then at half-time we were able to talk to Jesse Marsch who is from the midWest in the United States, like we are."

Having a fellow American in the dugout at Elland Road is a source of national pride for Garcia.

"As bummed as I was that Bielsa got sacked the way he did, after getting the club back to where they are now, I was really excited to see Jesse Marsch come in," he said.

"I'm really pulling for him to do well and get Leeds further and further away from relegation. What he's doing makes me really proud to be an American. It's really easy to root for him because the way he talked to me and my friends, he's a really nice, genuine guy. You can tell he's from the midWest."

Garcia and Ramanujam return to America on Sunday to cheer Marsch and his men on from afar, but they will be back.

"I'm really excited for the future of the club, there's a lot of kids I'm hoping we get to watch playing for the senior team," Garcia told the YEP.

"I'm trying to make it a yearly trip now. I'l definitely be back next year."