It’s 2010, Leeds United are on the brink of promotion to the Championship but face a tricky match against Bristol Rovers to guarantee everything.
Max Gradel is one of the club’s most important players and is in form. So, when he’s sent off for violent conduct in the first half, things don’t look so good.
Leeds United managed to win 2-1 without the now 30 year old, and secured their promotion to the second division.
But it was an incident which followed Gradel. He’d refused to leave the pitch, furious at the referee’s decision to send him off, and had to be encouraged to get off the field.
That resulted in a total ban of four matches, going into the next season.
The footballer himself still hasn’t forgotten about it, and in a self-conducted interview with France Football, he brings it up as one of the standout moments of his career to date.
“We’re playing the last game of the season with Leeds in D3. We must win to go up. I go to head-to-head contact with the defender, he simulates and falls. The referee gives me a red. Taken by the weight of it all, I enter a rage, I refuse to go out for five minutes. My captain calms me by saying that they will win for me.”
Fortunately for Gradel and Leeds United, that’s exactly what happened.
