Pontus Jansson was desperate to be fit for the play-off semi-final against Derby County.
The Leeds United defender made it clear that if there were any possible way, he’d be on the pitch to face Frank Lampard’s side. In the end, he wasn’t, and Marcelo Bielsa saw his men score first before goals from Jack Marriott, Mason Mount and Harry Wilson won the tie for Derby.
It must have been even more painful for Leeds to lose against Derby, given all that had happened earlier in the season, and the war of words between Lampard and Bielsa.
Derby will now face Aston Villa in the play-off final, and Leeds are left to pick up the pieces and try to find optimism for next season.
Jansson is still struggling with it all. Currently training with previous club Malmo, ahead of the Sweden squad meeting up, he’s spoken to Fotbollskanalen.
Asked about defeat to Derby, he said: “It’s still tough. Still really annoys me. I’ve talked about it now a couple of evenings here at home with family and friends and stuff. It just gets worse every day. All the friends who had booked flights to London… It’s totally unreal.
“I was furious after the game, especially when you cannot influence things. I played every match throughout the year, then it comes as such a blow when you can’t play and influence. It was tough. It makes it even worse.”
Inevitably asked about a potential transfer, Jansson didn’t want to encourage speculation: “We’ll see what happens. I get on very well there, it’s just that it would have been fun to play in the Premier League. So we missed out now, with the squad we have… I have three years left, it’s just silly to talk about something else. We deserved to go up if you ask me.”
