It was a busy night on the international front for Leeds United players and it is fair to say it was a mixed bag.
Undoubtedly the biggest game came for Leeds’ Welsh quartet but they saw their EUROs dream end in the harshest possible way as Dan James missed the decisive spot-kick which saw Poland go through.
Junior Firpo and Liam Cooper were also on the losing side for the Dominican Republic and Scotland respectively, while Willy Gnonto’s Italy U21s drew with Turkey and Glen Kamara was an unused sub for Finland.
But there was success for some Leeds players on Tuesday with Archie Gray and Mateo Joseph both on the winning side for their respective nations.
Gray played an hour and registered an assist as England U21s strolled back Luxembourg 7-0, but it will be Joseph feeling the most elated this morning after his first competitive appearance for Spain U21s.
With the score locked at 0-0 against Belgium, Joseph was brought off the bench with just seven minutes remaining. However, that was all he needed to have an impact as he netted a late winner to earn a massive three points in U21s EUROs qualification.
Gray and Barcelona star react to what Leeds ace Joseph did for Spain
Joseph only switched his allegiance to Spain from England two weeks ago but it has not taken him long to have make an impact.
The 20-year-old showed all the instincts of a top striker with his finish, as he got across the front post to neatly steer home a cross from Javier Guerra.
After scoring his first goal for Spain, Joseph posted on Instagram last night to share his delight, with Leeds teammate Gray and Barcelona star Fermin Lopez among those to respond.
He said: “Until the end always. Very happy for my first goal with this shirt, hopefully many more to come.”
2024 has been an excellent year for Joseph so far with this goal just the latest of a growing number of big moments he has experienced already.
Leeds star Joseph tipped to be the future of Spain
As mentioned, it has been a very promising start to the New Year by Joseph, which started with him being handed a new long-term deal at Elland Road.
He was then really impressive on his first start of the season at Plymouth Argyle, before then scoring his first ever professional goals in the FA Cup defeat to Chelsea in February.
Joseph has also been making some big impacts off the bench in league matches and it is no surprise that he has been tipped to be the future of Spain by U21s boss Santi Denia.
He said: “Well, Mateo, I think he was already on a pre-list when he was Under-19. I was in charge of the Under-19 team when he was in Spain.
“From there he went to Leeds, to England, and well, we followed him up, knowing that he had played in a [U20] World Cup with England. From there we have continued monitoring and we believe that he can give us things. He is also playing for Leeds, the other day he scored two goals and is in a good moment.
“We also believe in Mateo for the future, not for the U-21, which is important in these two games, but for the future of the federation I think it can be important.”
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