Leeds United 2 (Joseph 14’, Georginio 41’)

Valencia CF 1 (Tejón 89’)

Leeds: Meslier (GK), Bogle (Byram 60’), Firpo (Debayo 81’), Ampadu (C) (Crew 81’), Struijk (Wöber 64’), Rodon (Chambers 88’), Joseph (Bamford 76’), James (Piroe 64’), Georginio (Gelhardt 76’), Gnonto (Aaronson 64’), Gruev (Rothwell 64’). Sub not used: Darlow (GK).

Venue: Elland Road

Attendance: 32,973

Referee: James Bell

Booked: Ampadu (Leeds) Mir, Guerra (Valencia)

Sent-off: Mir (Valencia)

Leeds United faced Valencia CF in their final pre-season friendly, ahead of the Sky Bet Championship campaign beginning next weekend at home to Portsmouth.

Daniel Farke’s side had enjoyed a productive summer in both England and Germany, with wins over Harrogate Town, Hannover 96 and Schalke 04, as well as putting in the hard work on the training pitches.

When this final friendly of the summer got underway, the opening period of the match saw both teams exchanging possession and in turn, few chances were created, as they settled into the game. However, the score would then be opened in style, after 14 minutes.

Junior Firpo burst forward with the ball and found Georginio Rutter. He played a clever through ball to Mateo Joseph who showed fabulous composure to turn the Valencia defenders inside out, before curling home right-footed into the bottom corner.

The 32,973 crowd in attendance were enjoying what they were seeing from Farke’s side and Leeds felt they should have had the opportunity to double their lead when Dan James appeared to be brought down in the area, but nothing was given.

Leeds were awarded a set-play moments later though, which James would take himself. He crossed into the box and found the head of Pascal Struijk who rose highest to head on goal, only for Stole Dimitrievski to make a good save for the visitors.

Valencia looked to break and hit the hosts on the counter, but the defensive line stood firm and did well to prevent the ball heading towards their area.

Approaching half-time, a stunning second goal arrived for the Whites. Georginio tricked his way into the box, running through the Spanish defence, before deftly chipping it over the goalkeeper and retreating defenders to find the far corner.

An entertaining first half in the Yorkshire sunshine was brought to a close, sending the teams back to their respective dressing rooms to take further instruction for the second 45 minutes.

HALF TIME: Leeds United 2-0 Valencia CF

Back out for the final half of pre-season football, Leeds remained with the same XI which had began the match and had been so impressive against their La Liga opposition in the opening 45 minutes.

There were no real chances in the opening 10 minutes, but unusually for a pre-season friendly, there were yellow cards. Rafa Mir, Ethan Ampadu and Javi Guerra all went into referee James Bell’s book.

Farke’s first change of the afternoon came on the hour mark. Jayden Bogle’s Elland Road debut drew to a close as he was replaced by Sam Byram, with 30 minutes left to play.

Four changes then followed a few minutes later. On came Joël Piroe, Max Wöber, Brenden Aaronson and Joe Rothwell, with just over 25 minutes remaining.

Seconds after the changes and having already been booked, Mir dived in dangerously on Junior Firpo down the wing, taking the defender out. In doing so, he was shown a second yellow card and correctly sent-off.

Another two changes were made with 15 minutes to play. Georginio had been a constant issue for the Valencia defence all afternoon and he was replaced by Joe Gelhardt, along with Patrick Bamford coming on for fellow scorer Joseph.

The freshly introduced players looked to make an impact on the scoreline and came close. Bamford saw his cross turned behind for a corner, and from that, Rothwell crossed into the box for Wöber to head just over the bar.

Next to enter from the bench were academy trio James Debayo, Charlie Crew and Sam Chambers. All three were brought on inside the final 10 minutes of the match, as they looked to continue their productive summers in white shirts.

In the dying moments, Valencia did get on the scoresheet. From the edge of the box following a corner, Martín Tejón struck at goal, seeing his strike take a wicked deflection and find the bottom corner.

The final whistle brought our pre-season to a close, with another impressive victory; one in which the fans had seen 21 players gain valuable minutes throughout the match. Next up, Portsmouth at home on the opening day of the season.

FULL TIME: Leeds United 2-1 Valencia CF