MARCELO BIELSA leapt to the defence of Kiko Casilla as his eight-game ban started with a vital Yorkshire derby win.
Leeds’ Spanish keeper, 33, was this week found guilty of racially abusing Charlton’s Jonathan Leko in September.
Marcelo Bielsa has backed Kiko Casilla after his race-rap
And although he refused to comment on the severity of the former Real Madrid man’s ban, boss Bielsa said the club will stand by their keeper.
Bielsa said: “The authorities have expressed themselves. Any contribution I make is not important but I accept the decision.
“The effect on his spirit is clear. It is not just something professional, it is something that will have an impact on his behaviour and it is a personal matter.
“Kiko is a great human being and, of course, this affects him. He is strong and all of us will support him with the love he deserves.
“We have more of a professional concept of him. We admire him for his behaviour with us.
“He has a brilliant past, with nothing negative, and has played for one of the best clubs in the world. He joined us with humility that points to the kind of person he is.
“I have seen a lot of behaviour from him where he supported people not included in society, the small groups, but of course he doesn’t do this publicly.
“All of us are against racists — he is the first one — but from now he will receive all the love he shared with us.”
Casilla, who also received a £60,000 fine from the FA, was barely missed as Leeds stormed to a four-goal romp for their first double over Hull in 30 years.
The victory never looked in serious doubt from the opening five minutes, once Luke Ayling tried a speculative shot from just beyond the fading 22-yard line which flew in.
The full-back’s effort took a wicked deflection off Callum Elder and looped out of the reach of Hull keeper George Long.
The visitors then took complete command and could easily have trebled their lead before the break.
The best opportunity fell to Pablo Hernandez, who smacked a shot against the bar.
Their dominance continued after the break, aided by a simple second goal within two minutes of the restart.
Hull failed to deal with a routine cross and Hernandez smashed home his sixth of the season from Helder Costa’s assist.
They had to wait until the 81st minute for the killer third, an emphatic finish from Tyler Roberts after Leeds had rampaged their way through the Hull back-line on the counter-attack.
Roberts added his equally smart second two minutes later. If they had taken their chances, Bielsa’s men could have hit double figures.
Before Roberts replaced him, Partick Bamford slipped a shot wide from close range before Hernandez, Costa, Mateusz Klich and Jack Harrison all forced good saves from Long, who gallantly tried to protect his goal.
Casilla’s replacement Illan Meslier could not have wished for an easier Championship debut, the 19-year-old French keeper barely warming his hands.
He contained a couple of soft, on target efforts from Kevin Stewart and Norbert Balogh beat him with one shot which hit the post.
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But the closest Hull came to scoring was a close-range touch from George Honeyman which Meslier grabbed easily.
While Leeds are going up, Hull are in danger of exiting the Championship in the other direction.
They have now failed to score in their last three home games against Leeds and never looked like breaking that duck.
In fact, Grant McCann’s side are on their worst run for ten years, having now failed to win in their last 11 games and, like Middlesbrough and Reading, yet to taste victory in 2020.
Boss McCann said: “They are a top team but it was not good enough. We didn’t test the keeper and the early two goals in each half knocked us.
“This result doesn’t define our season but we have some big games coming up.
“It is tough at the moment, I am not going to lie but we have to give Leeds credit, they are an excellent side and I’ve no doubt they will go up.”
Leeds fans certainly showed their support for Casilla before the game and then repeatedly throughout it.
The 4,000-plus travelling supporters sang the “Football League is corrupt” — among other less polite tributes to the game’s authorities — as well as the keeper’s regular signature tune.
Not all fans who made the journey along the M62 were in the right area of the stadium.
But rather than evict Leeds supporters who had purchased the wrong tickets, Hull and police took them to the away section.
Around 100 were moved into a corner section next to the Leeds supporters before a dozen were escorted in front of Hull fans and down the pitch by stewards.
Inevitably, they were ambushed by furious home supporters and scuffles broke out before police intervened.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
