Leeds bag victory in opener courtesy of ‘bizarre’ penalty

Five years ago, Leeds United marked their return to the Premier League with a helter-skelter affair against opposition from Merseyside.

- By RICHARD JOLLY

Leeds United 1

Nmecha (84 pen)

Everton 0

Marcelo Bielsa's side lost 4-3 to Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in a classic. In 2025, there was a superficial similarity in the fixture list, none whatsoever in the game but Leeds could savour an outcome they preferred. Everton were beaten 1-0 and, for the second time in the opening round of games, a promoted club tasted victory.

Daniel Farke's Leeds will never have the romance of Bielsa's but a prosaic win qualified as a "really magic night" for a manager who entered his 50th Premier League game with just six wins to his name but who could claim the meagre resources at Norwich accounted for that record.

Leeds are trying to be streetwise in their attempts to stay up, embarking on a recruitment drive where the average height of their arrivals is 6ft 2in, and there was logic to Farke's analysis. "A good start is always crucial," he said. "The first win out of the way, the first clean sheet."

And there was an immediate impact from a couple of his newcomers. Lukas Nmecha scored the first goal of Leeds' latest stint in the elite, just seven minutes after coming on for his debut. His penalty stemmed from Anton Stach's shot, which deflected and struck the arm of James Tarkowski. Stach was the best player on the pitch: relentless in his running, looking an upgrade, the midfielder also drew a fine shot from Jordan Pickford with a fierce drive. Some £17m looks well spent.