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Monday’s Hot Clicks: This Is the Craziest Five Minutes of Soccer You’ll Ever See

A controversial goal, a fight and an even more controversial goal. What an insane sequence.

Dan Gartland

Clint Hughes/PA Images via Getty Images

What an insane sequence

A controversial goal, a fight and an even more controversial goal. This five-minute sequence at the end of Sunday’s Leeds United-Aston Villa game had everything. 

The two teams currently play in England’s second division and are fighting for promotion to the Premier League. The top two teams in the second tier achieve automatic promotion, while the next four go to a playoff for the final promotion spot. Leeds entered Sunday’s action in third while Villa was fifth, so this was a massive game. 

The match was scoreless in the 72nd minute when a Villa player went down with an injury. Villa fully expected the referee to whistle play dead so the player could receive attention, but he allowed play to go on. The sportsmanlike thing for Leeds to do would be to kick the ball out of play to stop the action, but they kept advancing downfield. The Villa players were caught flat-footed and Leeds took advantage by scoring the opening goal. 

Villa was irate with the decision by Leeds to score what it thought was a cheap goal and a huge fight broke out. Not a baseball-type fight where guys just get in each other’s faces—a real fight. 

The most shocking part, though, was what happened next. Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa ordered his team to allow Villa to score a goal.

The game ended in a 1–1 draw.

Bielsa is being hailed for his sportsmanship in the wake of the game and surely he did the right thing after his team failed to do the right thing by kicking the ball out. But it can’t be ignored that Villa simply gave up on the play without hearing the referee’s whistle. That’s a serious blunder.

Bielsa, though, stood by the decision to let Villa even the score. 

“We didn't gift them a goal, we gave it back,” Bielsa said after the match.

Well, they do call them the Brewers

Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun needed a new hat after a fan in Queens tried to catch a home run in his beer and ended up dousing Braun in suds. 

The play was actually reviewed for potential fan interference but the umpiring crew determined there was no interference and allowed Pete Alonso’s triple to stand. 

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What a getaway

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Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

Published
Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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