Dominic Matteo criticises Leeds defender Diego Llorente after Aston Villa loss

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Dominic Matteo has told the Yorkshire Evening Post that he was left shouting at the television when he saw Diego Llorente’s reaction to being fouled by Ollie Watkins during Leeds United’s loss to Aston Villa at the weekend.

Llorente won a free-kick just inside the Leeds half after beating Watkins to the ball. The Villa striker went to ground and caught the 27-year-old.

The foul initially appeared to be a painful one for the Spaniard. But it actually only became clear how much pain he was in moments later when he reacted to badly to Watkins’ attempt to haul him up off the ground.

And Matteo – who went on to praise Llorente’s performance against the Villans – suggested that he was not happy with what he saw from the centre-back.

TBR View: In Llorente’s defence…

It is not difficult to see why many Leeds fans were not comfortable with Llorente’s reaction. It was obviously a foul. But it was wrong to roll around when he was clearly not badly hurt.

However, perhaps there is a reason to at least show some empathy towards Llorente. The defender – who earns £22,000-a-week, according to Spotrac – was making only his third start for the club following his summer switch.

He has endured a terrible time with injury. And there may well have been a split second where he did fear what the outcome would be.

It was not a malicious challenge from the Villans striker. However, there is a very brief moment when Llorente’s ankle looks to be caught beneath Watkins’ legs.

And to think that Llorente is the only player in the Premier League to overreact would be incredibly naive.

As Matteo suggests, it is not something fans want to see again. But it would be no surprise if several rival players have done similar by the time attention turns to Leeds’s clash with West Ham on Monday.