Leeds United midfielder makes joke on social media after yellow card tackle and sincere apology

Leeds were the victors over their Basque counterparts as Jesse Marsch guided a depleted XI to an improbable win versus La Real who are currently third in the LaLiga table. Well-taken goals from Pascal Struijk and Rodrigo Moreno helped the Whites come from behind after Martin Zubimendi’s header opened the scoring on 11 minutes at Elland Road.

The second of three friendlies Leeds will contest this month during the World Cup break, United have defeated Spanish opposition in each of their non-competitive fixtures thus far, seeing off Elche and La Real by 2-1 scorelines. Their remaining friendly against AS Monaco will arguably prove to be their toughest test ahead of a return to Premier League action versus Manchester City.

Referee Michael Salisbury showed four yellow cards despite the non-competitive nature of Friday evening’s game, two to each side. Marc Roca picked up Leeds’ first booking of the night after scything down Brais Mendez near the touchline in what was a clear bookable offence.

The Spaniard was quickly to his feet in order to apologise to Mendez, with whom he played at Under-21 level for Spain some years ago. The pair embraced on the pitch so as to make amends but Salisbury deemed Roca’s challenge dangerous enough to warrant a caution.

At full-time, Roca shared a picture of his tackle on Mendez on social media, captioning the image, ‘Balón’ with a laughing emoji, jokingly insinuating that he had won possession in that particular coming together.