FA investigate ‘shameful’ incident between Leeds fans and Brentford players

The FA are to investigate a ‘shameful’ incident with occurred between Leeds United fans and Brentford players in Sunday’s clash.

The Whites are being looked at by the Football Association after Brentford’s Sergi Canos and Bryan Mbeumo appeared to be struck by items thrown from the home end at Elland Road.

Referee David Coote has included the incident into his match report, and now the FA want to look at Leeds fans’ behaviour, launching a probe.

Sergio Canos, who scored to put Brentford 2-1 up, and Mbeumo was in a corner in front of the home fans when what looked like at least one plastic bottle was aimed at them.

Canos fell to the ground after being struck, holding the back of his head, while Mbeumo rubbed his head hard.

The West Yorkshire outfit could be punished by the FA if their investigation concludes they didn’t do enough to prevent their fans’ misbehaviour.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank claimed he was unsure what happened with Canos and said after the game: “I have not spoken to him, I don’t know what happened.”

There was a heated atmosphere at Elland Road on Sunday and that was shown by director of football Victor Orta who was involved in a furious bust-up.

Leeds also had to apologise for the behaviour of some of their fans after last Tuesday’s Premier League victory over Crystal Palace when they taunted the Eagles’ on-loan Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher with homophobic chants.

Bamford’s goal on his return after 11 weeks out with an ankle problem helped him put his injury hell to the back of his mind and afterwards he opened up on the depths of his frustration.

He was initially only supposed to be out for four weeks when he damaged his ankle against Newcastle on the 17th of September.

However he was sidelined for nearly three months and he says it was hard to accept when it only kept being dragged out.

“It’s been frustrating because it’s one of those injuries that can drag on,” he said. “There’s no actual specific time scale, it’s all down to the individual.

“It was frustrating because I set my sights on coming back each match for the last six matches, so yeah, it was a frustrating period, but now I am out of it, it seems it has gone fast.”

Player ratings

Leeds: Meslier (6), Ayling (7), Firpo (5), Llorente (6), Cooper (5), Forshaw (6), Dallas (6), Phillips (5), Raphinha (7), Roberts (8), James (6).

Subs: Bamford (7), Harrison (6), Klich (6).

Brentford: Fernandez (6), Henry (7), Jansson (6), Goode (6), Pinnock (6), Baptiste (7), Roerslev (8), Janelt (6), Nørgaard (6), Canós (8), Mbeumo (6).

Subs: Jensen (n/a), Wissa (6), Onyeka (n/a)

Man of the match: Tyler Roberts.

Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa: “Given how we got the equaliser, it’s a good point but if you look at the whole game it is an opportunity missed.

“When the game started, once we got organised we started to dominate it. But in the second half, we had issues we needed to resolve with the loss of Kalvin and we also had to accommodate his absence.

“In the first half, in the initial period, we didn’t concede goals after Cooper went off but we didn’t respond as well to the loss of Kalvin. We dominated the clear chances at goal… we dominated two-thirds of the game and we had double the number of chances.

“Kalvin went off because he had a knock to the back of his knee. Always the absence of these players are problems we have to solve but it’s a situation that all teams go through.

“I hope we can save these situations that are clearly not desired. Patrick scored a goalscorer’s goal and his presence is welcome. There’s nothing better than him returning with a goal. We think about the next game which is Chelsea and we’re going to prepare with maximum dedication.”

Brentford boss Thomas Frank: “At this moment, I can tell you my feeling is that it’s not a point to celebrate but what I will celebrate is the performance. We came up here without key players.

“I have no complaints as Leeds were missing players as well. With the lowest budget, and missing players in key positions, I think it was a top performance. We defended very well and gave nothing away apart from the goal in the first half.

“We stepped up and pressed a little higher to score two goals and I felt we were then in complete control. It’s a tough one to then concede so late from a set-piece.

“Sergi [Canos] is now suspended for the game against Watford, but we will find solutions. I felt Sergi earned the trust I gave him and created chances, scoring a goal and creating chances.

“I can’t praise the boys enough given how the players had to recover and I have to praise my medical staff for having the boys ready having played on Thursday night and produced our highest output of the season against Spurs.

“We had to go again three days later against a side who are at the top in terms of running. I make no complaints about the schedule but I just want to say we have fantastic staff and fantastic players.

“I found out about Ivan [Toney] yesterday and it is what it is. You get these things at the minute and we were prepared.”

Twitter users reacted as the FA investigate the ‘shameful’ incident between Leeds fans and Brentford players…

@LPP2014: To be fair they were very lucky that our fans managed to restrain themselves as well as they did. They Brentford players ran to Literally a meter away and carrying on like that, i was surprised that someone didn’t lose it totally and slot them one.

@iarmson: Whoever threw the beer bottle that hit him square on the head! What a Fantastic shot that was! Much better than the goal

@dean19191: Canos should have been given a 2nd yellow for inciting the crowd. Bamford gets a yellow for taking his shirt off. Laughable

@paulcarrick: He has form at Leeds. The headbut on Allioski’s when he went into their dugout to collect the ball that Brentford wouldn’t give back. Despite being seen on tv it went unpunished

@leedswhiterose: Can’t deny it happened. Players were totally inciting the Leeds fans a couple of yards away. Absolutely no reason to run the Leeds fans other than to incite trouble. Canos went down like was hit by a sniper then got up laughing.

@Chris_lufc87: If players are gonna go and provoke opposition fans, what ya gonna do? Why wasn’t he booked?

@smeddy69: If you celebrate right in front of the other teams fans you can’t moan if something gets thrown at you. It would happen at any stadium & you will never stop it unless u want everyone to have empty pockets at a ground.

@pistol1603: I don’t condone throwing things from the stand but you have to ask is running to within a yard of the most vociferous home end in the stadium and giving it the big un like he did really sensible behaviour? You get a yellow for taking your shirt off but goading oppo fans is fine?

@pwilsonmusic: All sorts mentioned about the bottle throwing. When they did it to Payet he was taking a corner, minding his own. Its wrong. Canos ran over and started goading the fans and saying “this is my pitch”. Again its not right to throw but why wind people up as a pro? #LEEBRE #LUFC

@itsjc21: The bloke hitting Canos with a bottle Should go down as a shot on target

@BenMcBride_18: Canos giving it the big un infront of the kop to only get hit with a bottle 😂😂

@Lucy_LUFC: Can we just take a moment to appreciate the accuracy of the bottle throw at Canos. More accurate than a few of our balls into the box to be fair. Hell hath no fury like a provoked set of Leeds fans 👌🏻