Leeds United hit the ground running in the new Premier League campaign with a dramatic late victory over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

Germany international Anton Stach produced another fantastic free kick to fire the Whites to all three points and after the full-time whistle, captain Ethan Ampadu was full of praise for his teammate.

“He showed last year his quality,” the skipper told the media. “He shows it every day in training. His free kicks are exceptional and, frankly, he put another one in the back of net today.

“I was hoping I could just get a little flick on it and maybe get my first goal this year! But no, we know his quality. He always backs himself to have a shot from anywhere. He shows that he is a quality player to do that.”

Discussing the important opening day triumph, Ampadu added: “It is what you work all pre-season for, to make sure you start the season off right. It doesn’t get better, maybe with a couple more goals, but it is a very tight game.

“It is going to be a difficult place to come. We know that from last season. We wanted to start off with a clean sheet and a win and, yeah, we got that today.

“It was a big part of our pre-season, to make sure that the togetherness and that solidity was there. And I think when it showed there, maybe in the last 10 minutes, we are always fighting for each other no matter what is happening in the game.

“Whether we had a setback or not today, we would be there fighting for each other as we showed last year. So yeah, that solidity is one thing.

“Overall, it is a solid start but obviously there is a long season to go and we want to improve a lot on that!”