Anton Stach capped off an impressive start to his career with Leeds United by scoring a brilliant free-kick in a comeback win over Wolves.
Having completed a move to the Premier League with Leeds United in the off-season, Stach had enjoyed a strong start without finding the net or registering an assist in his first four games.
However, the German midfielder ended that emphatically when he slammed home Leeds’ first free-kick in an away Premier League game since 2003 to hand the Whites the lead, after falling behind to an early Wolves goal.
Stach is forming an impressive midfield trio with Sean Longstaff and Leeds’ captain Ethan Ampadu, as they then switched their focus to defence, keeping Wolves at bay in the second half.
The new Leeds favourite also mirrored one of his predecessors in the process, as he matched a record set by former hero Kalvin Phillips with his first-half goal.
Anton Stach matches Kalvin Phillips with Premier League goal
Arguably, there have been few better days in Leeds’ recent history than their 3-1 win over West Brom to conclude the 2020/21 Premier League campaign.
Leeds swept aside their opponents to claim a ninth place finish under Marcelo Bielsa in their first season back in the top flight, as 5,000 fans entered Elland Road for the first time since the COVID-19 restrictions, and there was a feeling that the good times were back at the club.
Phillips scored his first Premier League goal that day, sweeping home a long-range free-kick to put Leeds 2-0 up after Rodrigo Moreno had opened the scoring.
By scoring from his dead-ball against Wolves, according to a post from OptaJoe on the social media site X (formerly Twitter), Stach became the first Premier League player to score their first goal from a direct free-kick since Phillips’ strike against West Brom.
Now, it appears that the Leeds fans have another midfield hero to salute after Stach made his mark in a brilliant win.
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Daniel Farke praises Stach’s influence in midfield
Speaking to LUTV after Leeds’ first away win of the season, head coach Daniel Farke was full of praise for Stach after an impressive display.
According to Farke, Stach’s influence stretched beyond his goal, as he played the assist for Noah Okafor’s strike which gave Leeds a two-goal cushion.
Farke said: “[It was an] excellent, excellent finish from Anton Stach. And also the third goal out of a good transition moment, once we were spot-on in our pressing.
“Anton played the ball exactly in the right moment, good timing of the run from Noah, and then the excellent ice-cold finish.
“I’m happy for my offensive players that they delivered today, scored goals. Noah’s first goal, Dominic off the mark, Anton… an impressive start in the Premier League, but also another goal and another assist, so I’m pretty happy for my players and definitely a good feeling today.”
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