Georginio Rutter opens up on 'special' Leeds United reunion with heartfelt message
The former Leeds United man was part of a victorious Brighton side on Saturday.
Brighton’s Georginio Rutter admits it was ‘strange’ playing against former club Leeds United at first after his side enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 win on Saturday.
Leeds endured yet another miserable trip to the Amex Stadium and their former player was at the heart of it, eventually getting an assist for Diego Gomez to make it 3-0 on 70 minutes. The Paraguayan winger had put his side two up shortly before, his brace adding to Danny Welbeck’s early opener.
Daniel Farke’s side were unable to create much danger on the south coast, waiting until the 84th minute to register their first shot on target. The travelling Whites were uncharacteristically slack in central midfield and struggled to cope with Brighton’s attacking pace and quality.
Saturday was the first time Georginio had faced Leeds after his dramatic £40million exit in the summer of 2024. Brighton triggered the Frenchman’s release clause just hours before its expiry, which emerged after a Carabao Cup defeat to Middlesbrough in which he came off the bench and looked visibly emotional.
"We have not had a clean sheet for a long time, so we are really happy,” Georginio told Premier League productions following Brighton’s win. “After taking three points it is very important. We have to keep going. We can do more, we can get better, but today we worked good.
Georginio Rutter on ‘special’ Leeds United reunion
"It was special, my first time playing against my old team. It was strange at the beginning, but it's football you know. I remember my time there."
Georginio had his moments on Saturday but Brighton’s real threat came via Yankuba Minteh. The tricky winger gave Gabriel Gudmundsson - who has largely been excellent this season - a difficult time and it was his moment of quality that set up Gomez for 2-0. Welbeck also caused Leeds plenty of problems.
"They have good qualities,” Georginio added of the pair. “Danny has good experience, clinical in the box, Yankuba is very fast and good one-v-one.
"Danny is scoring almost every game, so why not [an England call-up]? I believe in him a lot, he helped me a lot when I came here. He is a very good striker, we see that every game."
speaking after the result, Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler praised Georginio for a strong all-round performance against former club Leeds. He said: "It's important you can play really well without scoring goals.
“You get rewards from the media and fans when you score but he gets rewards [from me] when he works hard for the team and has a big impact on creating chances. Being an impact in our offensive play. That was a fact today. He worked well defensively, he had impact so I was happy."