Leeds United 1 Villarreal 1 live: Reaction and recap from Elland Road

Leeds United return to Elland Road today for the club’s penultimate pre-season friendly against La Liga side Villarreal.

Here, live from LS11, we will bring you all of the pre-match build-up to today’s visit of ‘The Yellow Submarine’ followed by in-game updates and analysis before post-match reaction.

The 3pm kick-off is not being televised but can be viewed at a cost of £4.99 on LUTV.

How we rated the players - star pair get 8s but one 5

Report: Leeds United 1 Villareal 1 - New faces and attacker impact for big Elland Road crowd

Full time

1-1. All square.

Crossbar Leeds!!

89: Harry Gray, flicked header tipped on to the bar - so unlucky.

Not bad for a friendly!

Attendance: 35,273

Strong finish here

84: By Villarreal but Leeds a threat on the counter

Leeds sub

82: Harry Gray on for Aaronson.

Chance Villarreal

Suarez blasts one over from the edge of the box, good chance, after a block from Bijol.

Uh oh, injury worry

77: Gudmundsson - collides with Meslier as he looks to usher the ball to safety, Meslier dithers but eventually gathers. Gudmundsson back up now but looked in pain.

Solid by Meslier

Cross from the left is the sort of one that could cause bother but he’s alert and out to gather to cheers.

CHANCE LEEDS! Almost 2-1.

69: Fine work by Ramazani, creates space on the edge of the box, low shot scrambled away by a fine save.

GOOOAAAAALLL!!!!!

68: No Piroe no party!!!!! Aaronson the creator, gets space down the right, sends in a very good cross that causes chaos and a bit of pinball in the box as Villarreal look to clear, ball bounces towards Piroe who is not going to miss from the middle of the box.

Leeds subs

63: Ramazani for Gnonto, Byram for Schmidt, Tanaka for Stach

Goal Villarreal

62: Eyong. Strange one. Schmidt beaten down his side again, cross into the box, header from Buchanan comes back off the bar after Meslier got a touch to it but Eyong reacts quickest and heads into an empty net.

Good defending

50: By Bijol, wins a tackle on the stretch and allows Gudmundsson to mop up as Villareal broke towards the area through sub Buchanan. Not much to report in the opening exchanges here, Villarreal looking the more likely but Leeds holding firm. Tanaka, Byram and Ramazani about to come on.

Players back out - 4 changes at the break

Gruev, Meslier, Piroe, Struijk are one for Longstaff, Darlow, Nmecha and Bijol. Back underway. More good play by Schmidt attacking wise as he charges forward but Villarreal eventually clear.

Half time summary

0-0

Striker Lukas Nmecha had the best two chances of the half for Leeds although a ferocious free-kick from new signing Anton Stach from a tight angle also flew just wide of the right hand post.

Nmecha’s first chance arrived in the opening minutes as the striker was played in down the right by a lovely through ball from new signing Sean Longstaff. Nmecha got himself into the box under pressure from defenders but his low shot from the edge of the area was easily saved by keeper Luiz Junior.

Much later in the half, Junior produced another save and this time a very good one to thwart Nmecha, scrambling his shot on the turn away for a corner after good work from Whites pair Isaac Schmidt and Brenden Aaronson.

Villarreal, meanwhile, had two particularly good chances of their own and only a brilliant save from Karl Darlow prevented them from going ahead on the stroke of half-time, the Whites keeper somehow tipping Gerard Moreno’s header from point blank range over the bar for a corner.

Earlier, Leeds looked in trouble as a ball over the top played in Yeremy Pino one-one-one but Pino could only produce a weak low shot that Darlow easily saved.

Great save Darlow!

45: Moreno header from the middle of the box from a cross from the right, heading for the roof of the net, superb save by Darlow to tip that over the bar. Was point blank range

Wow close Leeds

44: Free kick wide left, Stach blasts one across the area and it flies just wide, gasps from the crowd, he looks decent

Stach tracks back

40: Good play to race back and win a tackle just inside his own box though Villarreal wanted a penalty. Half hearted appeals.

Chance Leeds!

36: Nmecha shot on the turn pushed behind for a corner which is cleared. Nmecha strike looked in, good save, came after good work from Schmidt to retrieve the ball on the edge of the box after good persistent work by Aaronson too near the byline.

Another one

31: Ball over the top has Eyong in one on one but this time the flag does go up and he fires wide anyway.

Lovely touch Aaronson

30: Gets Leeds out of bother on the edge of their own box, creating space to clear after he and Schmidt were twisted and turned. Villarreal having the better of it last few minutes.

Good safe take

25: By Darlow to easily gather a corner, solid start by him. Struijk then with another big header to clear. Rodon then clears a cross from the left, in behind Schmidt again who has been okay going forward but getting caught a bit at the back.

Another chance Villarreal

23: Ball in behind Schmidt, Pino’s cross looks troublesome but Struijk gets there and clears for a corner which is then completely wasted.

Big chance Villarreal

18: The best one yet. Ball over the top has Pino in one on one - Leeds look for a flag - there isn’t one, poor weak finish and Darlow saves.

Another nasty collision

16: Between Gnonto and Pepe this time as Gnonto looks to volley one in from the edge of the box from a cleared corner, both seem fine.

Classy play by Ampadu

13: Cool defending by Ampadu then at the other end, sharp turn takes out two Villarreal men who then run into each other and clash heads, a nasty one.

The positions

Gnonto wide left, Aaronson wide right, Nmecha through the middle. Ampadu is the deepest of the three midfielders. Stach and Longstaff really buzzing about in front of him and really looking to get forward. Schmidt right back, Gudmundsson left back, Struijk - bright start - next to Rodon at centre back. Darlow in goal. Definitely a 4-3-3. Half hearted appeals for a Leeds pen as Stach goes down in the area but it was very soft and he basically lost his balance.

Another chance Leeds

6: Good work by Aaronson down the right, cutback for Gnonto whose low shot is turned behind for a corner. Stach very bright early too. Corner cleared.

Early chance Leeds! Great start by Longstaff

3: Longstaff, who has made a fine start, plays in Nmecha with a lovely ball down the right, gets into the box at an angle and low shot saved.

Underway at Elland Road!

The new playlist running order works well, a brilliant rendition of Marching On Together.

Here we go

Players out at Elland Road

All set at Elland Road

Wily Gnonto, Harry Gray and maybe Ao Tanaka too got the biggest cheers as the Leeds team was read out.

Warm ups underway

Team news in full - five out

Team news - Perri plus Bogle, James and Harrison all missing

Leeds United v Villarreal: Darlow, Schmidt, Rodon, Struijk, Gudmundsson, Ampadu, Stach, Longstaff, Gnonto, Aaronson, Nmecha. Subs: Meslier, Cairns, Bijol, Byram, Tanaka, Gruev, Crew, Ramazani, Chadwick, Gray, Piroe.

No Lucas Perri

The stage is set - pitch looks impeccable

Greetings from Elland Road!!

Daniel Farke’s Whites were back in the country at the start of the week following their pre-season training camp in Germany which also featured two behind-closed-doors friendlies against SC Verl and SC Paderborn which featured no fans.

Both games produced Leeds victories, Farke’s Whites recording a 4-1 win against third tier hosts SC Verl and then a 3-2 triumph against second tier hosts SC Paderborn. It means Farke’s side remain unbeaten in pre-season having begun their summer friendlies with a goalless draw against Manchester United in Stockholm.

Three weeks on from the victory against the Red Devils, United’s fans now finally get the chance to see their side on home turf with this afternoon’s visit of a Villarreal side who finished last season’s La Liga campaign in fifth place - qualifying for the Champions League in the process.

Today’s match marks United’s penultimate friendly of the summer, falling one week before next weekend’s final warm-up game against AC Milan in Dublin ahead of the Premier League opener itself at home to Everton on Monday, August 18.

In the meantime, here is the early Leeds team news and predicted Whites line-up for the 3pm kick-off at LS11.

Leeds team news

Summer signing Sebastiaan Bornauw suffered a quad injury in United’s first session in Germany and played no part in either of his new side’s two behind-closed-doors friendly there. It remains to be seen if he returns against Villarreal.

Isaac Schmidt also did not feature in Germany as he works his way back from a calf injury whilst young striker Mateo Joseph has informed Leeds that he wants a transfer and is keen on a move back to Spain.

Patrick Bamford, meanwhile, has been informed by boss Daniel Farke that he is not part of his Premier League plans.

New Whites keeper Lucas Perri, the club’s seventh signing of the summer, is in line to make his debut today whilst Jack Harrison appears likely to make his Elland Road return having featured very prominently so far this summer following two seasons on loan with Everton.

Predicted Leeds line up: Perri; Bogle, Rodon, Bijol, Gudmundsson; Ampadu, Stach, Longstaff; James, Harrison, Piroe.