Anton Stach scored a stunning goal in the 88th minute as Leeds United kicked off their Premier League campaign with a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
As the game was poised to end in a stalemate between the two sides, Stach delivered an exquisite free kick into the near corner of Matz Sels’ goal to give Farke his first win in charge. It left the Forest fans stunned and handed Oliver Glasner a defeat in his debut game in charge of the team.
Forest’s first clear chance came 17 minutes into the game after Ola Aina’s throw-in, which Igor Jesus sent into the box and forced a good save from Leeds goalkeeper James Trafford.
Leeds believed that they scored their opening goal after eight minutes, as new summer signing Harry Wilson scored from the corner kick delivered by Jayden Bogle. This goal was, however, annulled for being offside. Wilson should have allowed Dominic Calvert Lewin to score since he was not offside, but he scored himself.
The hosts came dangerously close to scoring a goal just before half-time, as a flicked header from Milenkovic almost resulted in a goal when it hit the post, after which Trafford blocked an attempt at goal by Jesus.
Forest kept pressing forward after half-time, but a header by Jesus from Aina’s cross went above the crossbar, and a chance created by Chris Wood also went off target.
Leeds steadily progressed into the game and put pressure on Sels through Brenden Aaronson until Forest’s goalkeeper made a spectacular save denying Tarik Muharemovic’s thumping header.
Sels then went from being the hero to the villain in the dying minutes. When Milenkovic conceded a free-kick in the vicinity of the penalty box’s left side, Stach curled the ball towards the near post. Sels could only manage to touch the ball, which did not stop it from making its way inside the goal line.
There was still one more opportunity to salvage something for Forest through the late efforts of Morgan Gibbs-White, who failed to capitalize on the free-kick he was awarded in the added minutes of the match.
The triumph marked Leeds’ first-ever league victory at the City Ground since 1972 and paved the way for a decent start to the season after hectic summer transfer activities.
Both the teams face each other very soon as Leeds travel back to the City Ground on Tuesday for the EFL Cup clash.
