Chaos in Leeds as Villa is gifted a point
Marcelo Bielsa ordered his Leeds United side to allow Aston Villa an uncontested equaliser after a match of high drama at Elland Road that ended 1-1 and sealed Sheffield United's promotion.
The Blades were as good as up to the Premier League already, with a far superior goal difference over Leeds, and Bielsa's hopes of climbing out of the Championship after 15 years away from the top flight had realistically slipped away thanks to successive defeats at the hands of Wigan Athletic and Brentford.
Failure to win here was only a fraction of the story, though, as the match descended into chaos late in the second half, all coming after a bad-tempered first half that saw Bielsa booked for protesting to referee Stuart Attwell.
It all exploded in the 72nd minute when Mateusz Klich curled in the opener, Villa feeling the ball should have been kicked out with Jonathan Kodjia lying injured on the turf after a challenge in the build-up.
A mass brawl saw Attwell lose control, before he sent off Anwar El Ghazi for a clash with Leeds striker Patrick Bamford, who appeared to exaggerate any contact and was booked.
In response, Bielsa could be seen furiously gesticulating at his team, with Albert Adomah allowed to run through unopposed and slot in, although defender Pontus Jansson appeared not to have received his manager's message and tried to stop the winger, almost setting off another brawl in the process.
Leeds needed a late winner to make Sheffield United wait, Tyler Roberts having an effort cleared off the line in added time, but a play-off final reunion against Villa, whose goalkeeper Jed Steer was struggling with injury late on, is now quite possible and certainly a fixture worth looking forward to if this one is anything to go by.
