Leeds United lost 1-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night at Elland Road with Raul Jimenez proving the difference through a heavily-deflected shot.
Away from the only goal of the match, which unfortunately pinged in off Kalvin Phillips’s head, there were plenty of incidents away from the main flow of the game.
Here is a round-up of some of the moments you may have missed from Monday night’s game.
Rodrigo and Nuno catch-up
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo was the head coach at La Liga Valencia between July 2014 and November 2015.
Rodrigo, as we know, was also formerly of the Mestalla outfit, but it transpires his six years with Valencia were actually started by Nuno.
Within three weeks of signing on as Valencia’s head coach, Nuno made Rodrigo one of his first new faces in 2014.
While Nuno only stayed with Valencia for 16 months, it was still long enough to form a lasting relationship with Rodrigo, who caught up with him on the pitch at full-time.
Cooper’s turmoil
Everyone now knows Liam Cooper made the decision not to risk his groin injury in Monday night’s match, but few may have seen the turmoil he went through in making the decision.
As we know, he was a major doubt for Monday night’s game off the back of his initial issue on international duty with Scotland.
Unlike Diego Llorente, Cooper was given a chance of making the game and proved to be a welcome surprise when he was named in the starting line-up at 7pm.
It proved to be too ambitious, though. Watching Cooper warm up you could see he was not moving properly, he was evidently protecting the injured muscle.
Rather than immediately call it off at the first sign of pain, though, Cooper kept trying to prove to himself he was ready. Luke Ayling and Pablo Hernandez each showed compassion with knowing grips of Cooper’s neck.
Conversations with the club’s medical staff went on and on before a decision was eventually made. Cooper was desperate to play.
Costa’s still close to former team-mates
Helder Costa had three very successful years with Wolves before moving on to Elland Road last summer.
Last night was the first opportunity Costa had to catch up with many of those old friends in person since transferring away.
Before and after the game, Costa shared conversations and laughs with Ruben Neves, Willy Boly, Joao Moutinho and Romain Saiss.
Moutinho traded shirts with Costa after the final whistle too.
Gareth Southgate in attendance
The England manager was watching on from the directors’ box at Elland Road on Monday night.
Kalvin Phillips and Conor Coady were the only England internationals playing on the night, but there were a clutch of their compatriots also hoping to catch his eye.
Phillips injury concern
Talking of Phillips, he seemed to be nursing a shoulder problem in the latter stages of Monday’s match.
All eyes will be on Marcelo Bielsa’s next press conference. The head coach is expected to speak on Wednesday ahead of Friday night’s trip to Aston Villa.
