Pascal Struijk's brilliant response to Leeds United fan injury request after Sunderland chaos
Leeds United's match-winner caused chaos inside Elland Road on Monday.
Leeds United captain Pascal Struijk appears keen to help out a fan who was hospitalised while celebrating the defender’s late winner against Sunderland.
Struijk sent Elland Road into rapture on Monday night after coming off the bench to score twice as Leeds beat their Championship promotion rivals 2-1. The Dutchman’s 71st-minute introduction came at a time when his side were 1-0 down, with Wilson Isidor’s first-half effort looking set to consign the Whites to a first home defeat since September.
But after glancing Joe Rothwell’s free-kick beyond Anthony Patterson, the stage was set for Struijk to meet a cross from the same teammate with just seconds of the five added minutes remaining. Elland Road erupted as fans raced towards the pitch in a bid to celebrate with their team, while others further up lost control.
Among them was a Leeds fan known as @FGAlfie on X, who posted a picture shortly after full-time of his arm in a sling while sitting on a hospital bed. He wrote: “Dislocated my shoulder celebrating that winner, hope Struijk is expecting an invoice #lufc @LUFC”.
The post went viral as Leeds fans reflected on an incredible moment the following day, with thousands liking the picture and over 150,000 views. And one of the many people to comment below was Struijk himself, who wrote: “Hope you’re well, mate. How can we sort this out?”
It remains to be seen what Struijk and Leeds might have planned for the injured fan, but his Monday night injury might have been repeated a few times across Elland Road amid the chaos. Sunderland provided one of this season’s toughest tests and the nature of the win created an incredible atmosphere.
"Really big [moment in our season]," Struijk told Sky Sports at full-time on Monday. "I think it's important from us that we win and get the three points today. It's a big step in the season so far, we want to keep the distance with the ones that are chasing the same thing as us. So, I think it's really important that we got the three points today.”
"I could see from the bench that sometimes there were chances from corners. We had a lot we didn't capitalise on them. Maybe one but you only dream of scoring more goals as a centre-back," Struijk added, when asked whether he could ever have envisaged coming on to score twice.