Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa has been talking up the performance of substitute Jamie Shackleton in the first leg of the play-off semi-finals ahead of the second leg on Wednesday night.
Shackleton came off the bench to replace Adam Forshaw when he was forced off with a knee injury in the 23nd minute.
Bielsa said: "Shackleton adapted immediately to the needs of the game, but he already showed he was a player with big character."
Shackleton has been limited to three league starts this season and Bielsa was asked in his pre-match press conference if he thought the 19-year-old had been unlucky not to get more game time this season.
He said: "As a right-back we had [Luke] Ayling, [Gaetano] Berardi and [Stuart] Dallas playing. And as a number eight we [had Lewis] Baker, [Mateusz] Klich and [Adam] Forshaw.
"They are players older than him and they have more experience than him, but every time he played, honestly, we saw him.
"And there’s a detail that is very important to me, which is how a player is accepted by his team-mates. When all the players accept a new, young player it means they like to have this player on their side.
"When a young player finds his place in a top team in the natural competition you have for the positions, the one who comes inside the team moves someone out of the team.
"That’s why from a team spirit the only way you accept the arrival of a young player is when you make the team better. And for me this happened very clearly with Jamie Shackleton."
In the pre-match press conference, Bielsa announced Forshaw will miss the second leg of the play-off semi-finals on Wednesday night with Shackleton set to fill the position again.
Bielsa isn't the only one going on the record to praise Shackleton. Captain Liam Cooper, who also spoke at the press conference, said: "Yeah, he’s an amazing young man, down to earth, just wants to come in every day with a smile on his face and work hard.
"He deserves to be in the team, he deserves to play well because we see how hard he trains everyday. I thought he was a different class on Saturday. Hopefully for him, he stays in the team, but if he doesn’t, he’ll still be the same boy."
