Leeds United v Villareal Saturday 2nd August 2025 - Elland Road 2024/25 Season - Pre-season Friendly. With our only home preseason game taking place today against Villareal, we arrived at Elland Road after a trip to Castleford Junction 32 outlet first. It was a family affair today with my eldest daughter, three eldest granddaughters and my grandson attending with me and by the time we had parked up and walked to Billy’s statue, there were still thousands of fans making their way to the ground. We only waited at the statue for a few minutes as we wanted to get into the ground and with so many fans still outside the turnstiles with 30 minutes to go to kick off, it was obvious there were going to be queues. I wasn’t wrong either as it took us until just before kick-off to get into the ground. With so many still to get in I wondered whether there would be a delay to kick off as there was in Stockholm, but it never happened so I’m sure some will have missed the start of the game. Team: Darlow, Ampadu (captain), Rodon, Gudmundsson, Aaronson, Schmidt, Gnonto, Nmecha, Stach, Longstaff, Struijk. Subs: Meslier for Darlow (46), Bijol for Struijk (46), Gruev for Longstaff (46), Piroe for Nmecha (46), Byram for Schmidt (63), Tanaka for Stach (63), Ramazani for Gnonto (63), Gray for Aaronson (81). Subs not used: Cairns, Crew, Chadwick. Leeds drew the game 1-1 with Piroe equalising for Leeds five minutes after Villareal had taken the lead (67). Attendance: 35,273. Unsure whether any away fans attended as I never saw any outside the ground. Referee: Sam Barrott. Another signing we have made is: 27-year-old Brazilian Lucas Perri, a keeper signed from French side Lyon on a four-year deal. I wasn’t in my usual season ticket seat due to bringing family with and instead were four rows from the front. At first, we thought we were going to have the sun blazing down on us but luckily soon found ourselves in the shade. It was a beautiful day for our first game back as the teams came out onto the pitch with the fans singing marching on together a bit further down the pecking order. With being back in the Premier League, we must play their anthem first as we come out onto the pitch. Leeds looked lively at the start of the game with Nmecha put through with a great ball out of defence with his shot easily saved by their keeper. We were up against a strong team who nearly took the lead but were denied by Darlow. We did put on some impressive passing displays which were good to see. Struijk put the ball out for a corner as Darlow had a man bearing down on him and he had to make sure their man didn’t get to the ball first. There were quite a few strong tackles going in on our players, but we did have some and it’s a good job one from Rodon didn’t connect. It looked like two dying swans when two of their players ended up on the floor although I’m sure they collided with each other rather than a foul from us. No doubt someone will put me right on that. Aaronson put pressure on their player in the penalty area who cleared the ball to Schmidt which gave Nmecha a chance to shoot low and hard which the keeper pushed along the line. Stach made a tackle in the penalty area which had their player claiming for a foul, but it was greatly timed although their player stayed on the floor. We were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty as Gudmundsson had his back leg taken from underneath him, but we played on eventually being awarded a free kick on the left-hand side after another foul on Gnonto. A great cross into the middle by Stach missed everyone but it had some power in it. Villareal with a counterattack saw a fantastic header saved by Darlow as the scores were evens as we went in for the break. Trying to get downstairs at half time was a nightmare as no one seemed to move as it was that packed, and I can’t say I’ve ever had that problem before. We caught up with friends before heading back to our seats for the start of the second half. We made four changes with Bijol getting involved making a crucial tackle as Villareal came out strongly. They had another attack as the cross from the byline was met with a header. Meslier made a great save onto the bar, but the rebound fell to their player who was the first to react to put the ball into the net. We had been looking to make changes at that point, but you could tell the difference once Tanaka came on. It looked like Aaronson had lost the ball, but he kept going, put the cross in which was cleared straight to Piroe who put a close range shot into the net to equalise. Ramazani saw a shot saved by their keeper then Gray saw his header tipped over the bar, but it was flagged offside anyway. Whilst in many ways it was a typical preseason friendly, the score stayed at 1-1 at the final whistle. Hopefully there won’t be any lasting effects as Gudmundsson was on the end of a few of the fouls, requiring lengthy treatment for one of them. With one of the ladies’ loos already out of action at the start of the game due to a broken handle, I was able to report it at the end of the game so fingers crossed that gets remedied before the home game against Everton. I’ll admit to taking a bit of a back seat this week as the 23rd would have been my wedding anniversary. I was due to go to a funeral for one of the Kippax lads on Monday then couldn’t face it as I also had an extended family one yesterday plus a death this week. My thoughts go out to John Redmond one of our Irish Whites who is facing a big battle at this moment in time, and I was honoured to be asked to do a video for him wishing him well. With my big birthday coming up on my return from Dublin, it is also the first anniversary of finding my husband collapsed in the shower and the start of his downfall, so the emotions have been going haywire with plenty of ups and downs. I was thankful that my family were able to have a photo with his stone in front of the Pavilion before the game. I also delayed my blog from Sweden as I was hoping to have everything on one link on my website as there was so much to post but sadly there has been a delay. I will continue to post that in stages during the week as there are so many photos to share of a great trip. With the last of the preseason games taking place next week in Dublin with a near sell out 52,000 crowd against AC Milan, I’m looking forward to catching up with many of our fans there. See you there, LUFC – Marching on Together!