BENRAHMA’S HAT-TRICK A NICE TOUCH
Leeds keeper Casilla would swap all his Champions League medals for Prem spot
SAID BENRAHMA and Neal Maupay are the Brentford brothers-in-arms who swapped the French Riviera for west London.
The pair made their debuts together for the Nice academy team four years ago and are now making a splash in the Championship.
Algerian winger Benrahma was hailed a “magic man” by manager Thomas Frank after a brilliant hat-trick that left Hull beached.
He made the switch from the Cote D’Azur in the summer after consulting French pal Maupay – who against the hapless Tigers took his season’s goal tally to 22.
Benrahma (above, with the matchball under his shirt) said: “It’s the first hat-trick of my career, so a special day. It took me some time to adapt to the Championship. Now I do feel a lot more comfortable.
“It helps me that there are a few French speakers in the squad. Neal, he’s like my brother. He has helped me a lot with settling in.
“I would love to play in the Premier League one day, and I don’t see any reason why that can’t be with Brentford.”
Maupay said: “I’ve known him for four years, and he’s a close friend. I knew all about his quality, but it was hard for him at first.”
Fraizer Campbell’s opener for Hull provoked the Bees into scoring four times in 24 minutes – Kamohelo Mokotjo was also on target – with Benrahma completing his treble late on.
Hull midfielder Markus Henriksen admitted: “This was nowhere near good enough, it was embarrassing in front of a full away end.”
MATCH STATS
BRENTFORD:
Bamford Beevers Alioski
KIKO CASILLA insists that helping Leeds get promotion would be even better than winning the Champions League.
Although he was not a regular during his time at Real Madrid – the Spain keeper was No.2 to Keylor Navas – he still possesses three Champions League winners’ medals.
When the 32- year- old dropped further down the pecking order at the Bernabeu following the arrival of former Chelsea shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois, Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa took the opportunity in January to add him to his squad. And with Bolton belying their perilous position and creating a succession of decent chances, Casilla ( below) provided proof that he is set to play an important role in the club’s desire to return to the Premier League.
He admitted: “Winning g promotion and playing ing with Leeds in the e Premier League would mean more than winning the Champions League.
“It is our objective e and why I am here. e. I want to help Leeds d get t back to where they belong.
“It’s the centenary year of the club and it would be the perfect moment to get into the Premier League.”
But Bolton manager Phil Parkinson, who found himself sent to the stand after a second- half fracas which involved most of the players and both benches, believes it is all about holding your nerve at the business end of the season.
And that was borne out by most of a packed Elland Road screaming for the final whistle as Leeds hung on to their slender lead. He said: “With Leeds not play playing last weekend an and with Norwich a and She f f i e ld U United winning a and them dropping i into third place, I fe felt there was a bit of anx anxiety in the air. “I said i to the lads before the game that when you have been right at the top a long time and you don’t play and other teams win, it creates that bit of tension. It’s true at both ends of the division – it’s about holding your nerve.” For Leeds striker Patrick Bamford, who has missed a big slice of the season through injury, it was all about hanging on to the ball after being awarded a penalty.
When Tyler Roberts was brought down in the box by Pawel Olkowski a wrestling match between Bamford, Roberts and Pablo Hernandez ensued before Bamford smashed his spot-kick home for only a third Championship goal of the campaign.
Bamford explained: “Tyler wanted to take it because he won it and Pablo wanted it as well, but there was no chance I wasn’t taking it.
“As a striker you always want to score as many goals as possible.”
Bielsa’s side can return to the top of the table with a win at struggling QPR tomorrow night.
Bamford added: “I think that from now on there are going to be a few twists and turns.
“Thirteen games is still quite a lot and there’s always REF:
one team which comes steaming into the play-offs. I don’t know how it will all end up, but we know that the way we play and with the squad that we have got we are more than capable of going up.
“We have just got to keep believing in ourselves and showing that on the pitch.”
It is also useful to have a slice of luck.
After Bolton deservedly equalised Bamford’s penalty through Mark Beevers, a fluke goal from Ezgjan Alioski snatched the three points for the Elland Road side.
LEEDS: BOLTON: MOTM ATT: EZGJAN ALIOSKI (LEEDS)