Leeds United had their first set of internationals in action on Thursday night.
The Whites are once again the side with the most players away with their respective countries across the entire Championship, despite a plethora of their international stars out injured.
Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev, Manor Solomon, Dan James and Max Wober are all currently on the sidelines and therefore unable to jet off for international duty.
Daniel Farke will be keeping everything crossed his players return with a clean bill of health and don’t add to his injury list, with a Friday night Yorkshire derby against Sheffield United to come next week.
Brenden Aaronson is already an early doubt for Leeds, due to USA’s second match away in Mexico not getting underway until 3.30am (BST) Wednesday morning.
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Leeds star Mateo Joseph impresses on international stage
Mateo Joseph and Ao Tanaka were the first two Leeds players in action over this break on Thursday, with the former enjoying a brilliant night.
Though Joseph has already scored twice for Spain’s U21s, he was handed his first start for them against Kazakhstan, and wasted no time showing what he can do.
Joseph netted a first half hattrick as Spain ran out 4-3 winners on the night, with the Leeds star coming off just before the hour mark after a fine night’s work.
All three of Joseph’s goals came from inside the six-yard box and although the defending wasn’t overly impressive, it shows what he can do when given the right service.
Having been benched for the first time at Sunderland seven days ago, Joseph will be looking to use this as a confidence boost when he returns to club football.
Joseph has scored just once for Leeds so far this season but has shown he has all the other attributes needed to succeed at Championship level.
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Spanish journalist hails ‘sublime’ Joseph
Joseph has already been earmarked as the man to spearhead Spain at the World Cup in 2026 and his record for the U21s will only enhance his chances of doing that.
Spanish journalist Jonay Amaro was hugely impressed with what he saw from Joseph last night, particularly hailing his ‘sublime’ attitude.
He wrote: “While it is true that Kazakhstan has been a defensive mess in the first half, the reality is also that Mateo Joseph has had a sublime attitude.
“A hat-trick from a guy who is committed. His goals are due to hard work, not because of the ease of his opponent.”
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