Kenneh stepping up
Occasionally, there are groups of young Leeds United fans, Sunday league teams and the like, inside Elland Road at the earliest opportunity on a matchday.
While you may normally see a Kalvin Phillips or a Daniel James heading over to sign autographs and pose for pictures, on Sunday it was the youngster Nohan Kenneh.
While Kenneh is yet to be exposed to the first team on the field, this was a little step up in role and status for the 19-year-old.
Raphinha’s pre-match summit
While the pre-match narrative centred around Raphinha’s benching, he had a friendly face to chat with before the warm-ups got going.
Alex Telles, a sub for Manchester United, ambled over for an embrace and catch-up with his Brazil team-mate before they got their warm-ups underway.
Ronaldo bonds with the Norman Hunter Stand
Amid all of the anger and bile on the terraces there was some light relief in the warm-up between public enemy number one and the die-hards in the Norman Hunter Stand.
For every shot Cristiano Ronaldo took, and planted into the safety net behind the goal, there were predictably sarcastic cheers from the home faithful.
Ronaldo enjoyed it. He smiled and waved back at the Whites support. He wasn’t smiling and waving when the John Charles Stand was telling him what they thought of him as he made for the dugout in the second half.
Ayling calls for calm
The roof came off Elland Road when Raphinha scored the equaliser. Make no mistake. The atmosphere was electric. It was, by far, the best moment of the season.
A couple of minutes later, as the adrenaline was finally beginning to subside, captain Luke Ayling knew what was needed.
After Mateusz Klich strayed offside in the latest high-energy break, Ayling took the moment to calm everyone down. Gently waving his arms up and down he called for calm heads across the pitch as control threatened to slip away.
