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Bamford shares text he received from Radrizzani after Leeds win over Man City

Will Butcher

Thu 15 April 2021 8:16, UK

that he received a text from the club’s owner Andrea Radrizzani after he was sacrificed early during Saturday’s 2-1 win over Manchester City – after going down to 10 men.

Bamford, 27, started for Leeds on Saturday – continuing to start every single one of the club’s 32 Premier League games. Going down to 10 men after Liam Cooper’s red card, Bamford was taken off before half-time.

The decision was inspired. Leeds held out City and although Ferran Torres cancelled out Stuart Dallas’ opener, Dallas broke through again in injury time after a perfect through ball from Gjanni Alioski to score the winner.

Speaking on the Leeds podcast, published on on Wednesday morning, Bamford stated he received praise from Radrizzani after the match via text – stating that the Italian applauded him for sacrificing himself for the team.

“I actually got a message from Andrea saying ‘thank you, thank you, sacrifice yourself for the team – well done.’ I did not choose to come off! But I replied, ‘it is for a great cause, great win’,” Bamford said.

TBR’s view – Bamford can be annoyed, but Leeds benefitted

Bringing Pascal Struijk on, and then Robin Koch for Tyler Roberts was inspired. The Athletic claimed after the win that Bielsa told the Leeds changing room to surrender non-dangerous parts of the pitch.

That saw Leeds drop deep and John Stones boast enormous amount of possession, but the solidity and work rate of the Leeds side made it impossible for the England defender to try and break the lines.

Bamford might be annoyed to have come off early, which is fair enough – but ultimately, it was the right decision.