Jesse Marsch's Archie Gray update and ref comment after Leeds United teen's Aston Villa injury

The 16-year-old was caught on the ankle by Aston Villa’s John McGinn during the Queensland Champions Cup game in Brisbane on Sunday.

Gray had just received a yellow himself for a late challenge on Emiliano Buendia, and McGinn also saw yellow as Gray was placed on a stretcher and carried from the field in tears.

Leeds head coach Jesse Marsch says the club’s medical team have assessed Gray and are optimistic that the injury is not as bad as it initially looked.

“We're hopeful that it's not too bad,” said Marsch.

"He was in some pain initially and when they assessed it after the match there they're hopeful nothing's broken and that it's just an ankle sprain. And then we'll see exactly the severity of it in the next couple of days, but hopefully not too bad.”

Marsch was visibly angered by the incident and engaged in an animated conversation with McGinn on the touchline.

The American insisted he was simply explaining to McGinn that it was A-League referee Adam Kersey he had been yelling at.

“I was yelling at the ref and he thought I was yelling at him,” said Marsch.

"And so I told him to not worry about me and play the game. There was some hard tackles and and maybe if the ref gets control of the match a little bit more throughout the game, then it doesn't lead to the aggressiveness, but it's normal.

"I mean, it's the the Premier League and every player on the pitch wants to send messages that they want to play and both teams want to send messages that they want to be good this year. So yeah, in the end, it was fine.”

Marsch and McGinn spoke at full-time on the pitch and Villa boss Steven Gerrard addressed the challenge in his post-game press conference, expressing his belief that the Scottish international was unlucky with his follow-through, having won the ball.