Patrick Bamford reveals what he told 'mental' Rotherham players after Leeds United handball goal

Patrick Bamford has revealed what went down in the aftermath of his controversial goal in the 3-0 win against Rotherham last month.

Bamford opened the scoring in unorthodox fashion at Elland Road to break down a battling Rotherham defence inside 10 minutes. The striker got on the end of Junior Firpo's deflected cross but appeared to flick the ball in with his elbow before reeling away and celebrating by flicking his arm up in the air.

Rotherham players were incensed to see the goal given by referee Andy Madley with some even approaching Bamford and pleading for him to tell the truth. The Leeds striker had a brief chat with the ref before play kicked off again and has now revealed what was said - and how he technically didn't lie.

“At the time, I thought, ‘it’s really close to me, but I can’t quite get it with my body, so I’m just going to nudge it with my elbow’,” Bamford told his 'My Mate's A Footballer' podcast. “I thought, ‘that’s really subtle, everyone will think it came off my chest’.

"I ran off and as I’m running off, I tried to make it look normal. Looked back and their players are going mental. The ref’s given the goal. Stupidly, I did a celebration where I tapped my elbow. The goal was already given.

“Afterwards, we’re walking back to the centre circle – one of their players asked me, ‘did you handball it?’ I said yeah. The ref said, ‘did it touch your hand?’, before it had kicked off again. To be fair, it didn’t touch my hand, it touched my elbow, so I said ‘no, it didn’t touch my hand’."

Madley apologised to Rotherham boss Leam Richardson at half-time after being told by Bamford in the tunnel that it should have been handball. But the referee insisted he could not have fully committed to disallowing the goal as it was unclear what part of the body had been used.

Leeds went on to dominate the game after the break, with Crysencio Summerville netting twice to ensure all three points remained in West Yorkshire. Rotherham supporters were fuming with Bamford after the match and his latest admission is unlikely to quell their frustrations.