2024-02-14 05:57:37
Nationalist Iliya Gruev recorded his second assist for Leeds and this time it was used by his teammate (the first was for an own goal by “Plymouth” in the cup tournament – b.a.).
In a match of the 32nd round of the Championship (II level of English football), the team of the 23-year-old supporting midfielder defeated “Swansea” 4:0 as a guest.
The success of Gruev and company in the Welsh city saw the Yorkshiremen equal a record since the start of 1975. Victory over Swansea marked Leeds’ 10th consecutive unbeaten run in all competitions since the start of 2024.
The Yorkshiremen had not recorded a streak of 7 victories in the league since December 2019, and the current ones are with only one goal conceded. Gruev, who is like a “vacuum cleaner” for approaching dangers in front of the defense, also made a big contribution to this.
In Swansea, our boy had strong performances offensively as well. It was Ilia who assisted Chrisenio Somerville in the 8th minute to open the scoring.
After a corner kick, the ball reached the Bulgarian and he passed it to the Dutchman in the penalty.
Just 2 minutes later, “Leeds” took a 2:0 lead after a goal by another representative of the Low Earth – Yoel Piru.
In the 28th minute, after Gruev’s goal-danger pass, Swansea goalkeeper Carl Rushworth saved Jorginho Rüter’s shot.
In the 35th minute, Italian international Wilfrid Nionto made it 3:0 after an assist from 17-year-old Archie Gray.
In the 72nd minute, Gruev stole the ball and started an attack, which ended with another goal by Nyonto for the final 4:0.
Ilia also distinguished himself with one dribble, and the accuracy of his passes was close to perfection – 86 out of 88 reached their destination, or 98 percent. In the long passes, he was 100 percent – 5 out of 5.
This was the 9th game in a row in which Gruev started for “Leeds”.
The victory took manager Daniel Farke’s team to second position in the provisional standings with 66 points – 12 less than leaders Leicester. The top two teams in the final standings are promoted to the English Premier League.
Third went to “Southampton”, who after 25 games without a loss, fell 1:3 in their visit to “Bristol City”.
The Saints have 64 points but have a game in hand over Leeds. Fourth is “Ipswich” with 60 and 2 games less. Most likely, these 3 teams will fight for the second place, if by chance “Leicester” does not stumble ominously.