Jack Grealish takes a pop at Leeds United fans after he and Raphinha get pelted with paper in one corner of Elland Road on Saturday.
The £100m Man City signing is described to be a hated figure at the West Yorkshire outfit, mainly due to his association with Aston Villa and the many games he played against Leeds.
He was booed the first time he touched the ball in the evening kick off and it continued for much of the game, though he saw the funny side instead.
Most of the anger from fans stems from his diving and complaining to referees at the ground and the bad blood with the player continued after crumples of paper card used for a pre-game mosaic.
— – (@ak179_) April 30, 2022
What was rather strange however was Raphinha being bizarrely targeted also with paper balls by his own fans as Leeds fell to a home defeat to Manchester City.
The Brazilian winger was about to take a corner kick until he was interrupted by paper balls thrown onto the pitch by Leeds fans.
He had a look of not being pleased, instead tried to get the fans on side as he kicked away the paper balls before sending the ball into the box.
O Raphinha é um mood pic.twitter.com/cmoWzmhYiU
— GoncaloDias17 🇵🇹 (@goncalo_diass17) April 30, 2022
Leeds tried their best to put in a valiant effort in the first half as they trailed 1-0 at the break.
However, Pep Guardiola’s team produced too strong in a superb second half display as they scored three goals to win 4-0.
Scorers: Rodri (13th minute), N Aké (54th minute), G Jesus (78th minute), Fernandinho (’93rd minute)
Jack Grealish on social media after the game: “Offft what a win from the box of toys! Always nice to win at Elland Road, on to a big game Wednesday 💙”
— LUFC_MALCH💙 (@Lufc_Malch) April 30, 2022
Player ratings
Leeds:Meslier (6), Dallas (5), Ayling (5), Struijk (7), Klich (6), Firpo (5), Koch (7), Phillips (7), Raphinha (7), Rodrigo (5), Harrison (6).
Subs: James (6), Gelhardt (6), Greenwood (n/a).
Man City: Ederson (6), Cancelo (7), Laporte (7), Dias (6), Ake (7), Rodri (7), Gundogan (6), Foden (8), Sterling (6), Jesus (7), Grealish (7).
Subs: Zinchenko (6), Silva (6), Fernandinho (n/a).
Man of the match: Phil Foden.
‘They respond really well and stick together in the bad moments,’ Guardiola said. ‘We had to suffer. Aymeric [Laporte] and Ruben [Dias] were fantastic. An incredible result.
‘The pressure is not too complicated to analyse. They play before, they are going to win all games. We’ve expected that for a long time.
‘All we have to do is win our games. When that happens, they are going to congratulate us. if it doesn’t happen, we are going to congratulate them.
‘It is an honour to try to make back-to-back and try to make a fourth Premier League [title] in five years. I know Liverpool is nicer with their history but what we have is not bad.’
Guardiola added: ‘Today I felt the Elland Road crowd and why this [stadium] is so special. At the end, 4-0 down and fighting to stay up, they are chanting their support.
‘This was important for us because we have a final game in Madrid [on Wednesday] to reach the Champions League final and then we can just focus on the league for four games.’
Leeds manager Jesse Marsch criticised referee Paul Tierney, saying City were given the majority of 50-50 decisions. Marsch was booked for his protestations.
‘If the ref is not behaving in a way I think is appropriate and I ask for things to change and they don’t change then I must change my behaviour to change his,’ Marsch said. ‘After my yellow I don’t think it’s a coincidence City get the next yellow.
‘The big clubs get the calls so you have to fight. I didn’t think the freekick for the first goal was a foul. I felt over time there were a lot of light fouls they picked up, which can change the momentum of the game.’
‘We knew this wasn’t going to be easy,’ Marsch said. ‘But we are up for it. Their desire gives me a lot of optimism and confidence. It wasn’t a 4-0 match. Our players are so committed to making these fans proud and keeping us in this league. It’s closer than we would like but whatever man, we keep going.
‘This was a loss but in many ways I feel like it’s a win. This club is very unique and its fanbase as well. This isn’t me pandering to the fans, I’m just calling it as I see it.’
Twitter users reacted as Jack Grealish takes a pop at Leeds fans after he and Raphinha get pelted with paper…
@AntMit: Box of toys aside, I came here to say, as a Leeds fan and there tonight, you showed yourself well at the end to clap ALL the Leeds fans in the ground. There’s history there, but that was a class thing to do considering you were pelted with paper all match. 👏
@VSiggins: As a villa fan, I hope you win the league, champions league and anything that comes your way. Always a legend in my eyes. Xx
@AJMCFC_: U had ayling on strings tbf
@CanceloProp2: You had the Leeds fans in tears mate 😹😹🐐🐐🐐🐐
@minksfootie: Great game, Jack 💙 Looks like you had fun amidst all the confetti the Leeds fans were kindly showering on you. Who knew they were such big fans! 😉😂
@carlfinney14: Well played Jack yesterday. Just smile back it hurts them more. Thought you might have applauded them at the end though with 4-0 up on your fingers 😂😂😂CTWD
@Valbenn1: Brilliant super Jack 💙well done for laughing at them throwing that paper at you and heading it 😂😂joke though could of been more than just paper !!
@Cancelogoat: You had the Leeds fans on strings 😂💙
@MikeGore2: He loved it. I protected him well though😉😉
@toad_elland: Gave him some shit throughout – as per. Bit fair play, laughed it all off and clapped the east stand at full time – didn’t detect sarcasm either – think he enjoyed the agro.
@UnitedRhinos72: Not a fan of Grealish, but to be fair to the lad, he was laughing and joking about it throughout.
@BickersLUFC: Loved the paper aeroplane which swooped down 😂
@richd0871: Surprised he didn’t dive 🤷♂️
@lil_robbin: Joke of a fanbase
@bagpuss1809: Pathetic… and I was embarrassed to see it happening from the North Stand….but whoever decided to put them on the seats should be having their P45 this morning…
@JayMTDee: Never seen a player live so rent free in a random clubs fanbase before 🤯
@c_rfc72: See that wee guy who can hardly see over the advertising board, he threw a piece of paper therefore Gary Neville wants him butchered and quartered and put on display outside of Elland road to show that it is unacceptable behaviour
@CiaranFlaherty8: A fucking disgrace this shouldn’t be in the beautiful game 😤 why do people do this? Throwing objects at people and throwing objects on your own pitch that u love? They treat there pitch like a scrapyard just a disgrace not only adults are doing it but 6year olds are doing aswell
@AFCJackB: Fucking disgraceful, even worse is that you can see a young kid throwing some at the end as well. His dad should be ashamed but knowing Leeds fans he probably found it funny
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