Ao Tanaka praised for what he did on Japan duty – Leeds United star called ‘very, very good’

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Ao Tanaka was involved in a gruesome moment away from Leeds.

A 2-0 friendly win for Japan over Ghana last week saw the Leeds No.22 accidentally cause a serious injury to Abu Francis, who suffered a broken leg after sticking his foot in the way of a shot from the man born in Kawasaki.

Otto Addo – manager of Ghana – has now spoken about Ao Tanaka after the injury to his player, but opted to praise the Leeds star rather than criticise him.

Otto Addo thanks Leeds United star Ao Tanaka for his admirable sportsmanship

The 27-year-old was clearly upset after being directly involved in the injury to Francis, and made sure to apologise to the Ghana camp in the aftermath.

Praising Tanaka for his actions, Addo is quoted by Modern Ghana as saying: “I really appreciate that the player also comes, not only to our players to say sorry for what happened, but comes to me as a coach.

“We don’t take this kind of behaviour for granted. I think (they have) a very, very good education here in Japan… to say sorry means a lot, and I told him I really appreciate that.”

Tanaka – who Japanese media praised for his performance – had absolutely no reason to feel guilty for what was simply a freakish accident, but it speaks volumes about his character that he still felt compelled to apologise to the Ghana bench.

Marcelo Bielsa would be proud of Ao Tanaka

Marcelo Bielsa was dismissed by Leeds in February 2022 before Tanaka arrived in Yorkshire himself in August 2024.

However, it is almost as if the Japanese maestro was mentored by the Argentine, who often placed a focus on good sportsmanship and operating with morals.

No moment exemplified this more than Albert Adomah’s goal in that 1-1 draw between Leeds and Aston Villa in April 2019.

As you will surely know already, Bielsa famously instructed his players to allow the Villans to equalise, after Mateusz Klich opened the scoring despite several Aston Villa players stopping because of an injury.

If Bielsa still keeps up to speed with ongoings at Leeds, he will surely be proud of Tanaka for his actions.