Lepers Abroad: Gameweek ending 20 July

Fans celebrate the triumph of the Leeds United side led by ex-Newell’s player and coach Marcelo Bielsa outside Elland Road.

Welcome to our round-up for the Gameweek ending 20 July 2020.

Lepers Abroad refers to the performances of ex-Newell’s players and coaches, along with well-known fans of Newell’s Old Boys, who now ply their trade outside of Argentina.

ENGLAND

Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United sealed promotion to the Premier League after 16 years playing in The Championship. After narrowly beating Barnsley 1-0 at home, the Whites secured their place in the top division after West Brom lost to Huddersfield on Friday while the title was confirmed the next day when rivals Brentford were beaten by Stoke City.

On Sunday, a much-changed Leeds side easily dispatched of Derby County at Pride Park, winning 1-3.

pic.twitter.com/F7tlVUzdzO
— Newell's Old Boys – English (@Newells_en) July 17, 2020

The EFL Championship is Bielsa’s fourth club title, having won three with Newell’s in the early 1990s and one with Vélez in 1998. He also led Argentina to a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.

H̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶m̶s̶ ̶b̶u̶r̶n̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶
H̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶E̶n̶g̶l̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶
H̶e̶ ̶r̶u̶n̶s̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶t̶h̶ ̶ ̶
W̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶r̶o̶p̶h̶i̶e̶s̶?̶ ̶
T̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶g̶u̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶A̶r̶g̶e̶n̶t̶i̶n̶a̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶i̶n̶p̶o̶t̶ ̶

Enough. pic.twitter.com/y2NgTIlZc5
— Newell's Old Boys – English (@Newells_en) July 17, 2020

Lucas Boyé was an unused substitute in Reading’s defeats against Middlesborough (14 July) and Blackburn Rovers (18 July)

SPAIN

Lionel Messi finished the current La Liga campaign with 25 goals and 21 assists although Barcelona came up short with rivals Real Madrid winning the championship. The GOAT scored three goals in the past week; one in the 1-2 loss at Osasuna and two in the 0-5 away win at Alavés.

Éver Banega came on as a substitute in Sevilla’s 0-0 draw with Real Sociedad but he didn’t feature at all in their final game of the league season, a 1-0 win over Valencia.

ITALY

Cristian Ansaldi was taken off after 66 minutes but played well in Torino’s 3-0 victory over Genoa. On 19 July, he came on as a substitute but couldn’t prevent his side losing 2-0 to Fiorentina.

Nehuén Paz‘s Lecce ended their good run of form with Paz playing twice in Serie A last week. Like Torino, they played both Genoa (2-1 loss) and Fiorentina (1-3 loss) but ended up taking 0 points from 6.

In Serie B, Nicolas Spolli made the bench for Crotone for the first time since March but he was unused substitute in their 1-0 win against Pordenone and draw with Salernitana (1-1)

RUSSIA

Ezequiel Ponce played the full game in Spartak’s 3-0 over Akhmat Grozny on 15 July. He didn’t get on the scoresheet but had this goal controversially ruled out by VAR:

It’s time for the weekly episode of Russians Can’t Use VAR!

Samuel Gigot, from a marginally offside decision, is judged to have touched the ball before the final header from Ponce goes in for Spartak.

The ball skimming through Gigot’s hair is the touch adjudged. pic.twitter.com/hUP7GB8sxy
— David Sansun (@RFN_David) July 15, 2020

GREECE

Daniel Mancini played two full matches for Aris Thessaloniki in the past week. They lost 0-1 to Panathinaikos on 15 July and drew 0-0 with PAOK on 19 July.

Adrian Lucero was an unused substitute in Panetolikos’ 1-0 win over NFC Volos, the former team of Joaquín Torres.

UNITED STATES

Franco Escobar played 90 minutes as 9-man Atlanta United went down by a single goal to FC Cincinnati (0-1) in the MLS is Back tournament.

Maxi Urruti started for Montreal Impact in the Canadian Classique against Toronto but was removed after the hour mark without scoring. The Impact lost the game 4-3.

Milton Valenzuela was an unused substitute as in-form Columbus Crew defeated the NY Red Bulls by two goals to nil.

Did we forget someone? Let us know at info@newellscarajo.com or tweet us @newells_en