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Brenden Aaronson has revealed the reasons behind Leeds United’s ecstatic celebrations of their fifth goal against Cardiff City on Saturday.
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The game at Elland Road was largely done and dusted by half-time. Aaronson got the first and Manor Solomon the second, both from Daniel James assists. By the time Gnonto made his appearance as a second half substitute, James had added a goal of his own and then won a penalty which was converted by Joel Piroe.
Gnonto entered the fray on 66 minutes, replacing James, and joined the Welshman on the scoresheet on 67 minutes. In what was his first involvement, the winger picked up the ball on the right near halfway and ran all the way to the edge of the area before sliding a well-hit strike beyond the dive of Jak Alnwick. As Gnonto wheeled away in celebration having ended a seven-game goal drought, his delight was understandable. But his team-mates appeared equally over the moon. Josuha Guilavogui and Largie Ramazani led the warming up substitutes onto the pitch and the rest of the Whites engulfed Gnonto.
It might have been the fifth goal of seven but it was special and well worth celebrating according to Aaronson. “I think for Willy it was a special goal, because for him, he hasn’t scored in I don’t know how many games it’s been,” said the American.
“He’s a guy that’s scoring a lot, and when you aren’t scoring for a few games you get down on yourself, your confidence can go down, and it’s not easy. But I think for Willy, he’s another guy that’s so hungry. He’s such a good person and a great human being, and he wants to work harder than anybody else. So I think his goal today was just special, because he always is just an amazing guy, and to come on and – it’s not fun when you don’t start games – but he came on and he scored the goal and that’s why we’re so happy for him.”
The Leeds players looked just as delighted with the sixth goal, which was another important one. Mateo Joseph last hit the net in October against Sheffield United and had gone 18 Championship appearances without a goal. Only three of those had been starts but the drought was visibly wearing on the 21-year-old. It came to an end when Junior Firpo slammed in a perfect cross and Joseph crashed the six-yard box to convert. Aronson is close with Joseph and says the goal is a reward for all the striker’s hard work.
“I mean, for Mateo, he’s one of my good friends, first of all, and he’s a young kid, and it’s tough when he’s been struggling with his core goals at the moment,” said Aaronson. “I think everybody knows that. But, players go through this, strikers go through this.
But the thing that I love about Mateo is he’s so hungry. He wants to keep working every day after training. You know, he’s always asking me, let’s do stuff, let’s do stuff, let’s do stuff today, let’s do stuff tomorrow. So he’s a really hungry kid. He’s got a huge future ahead of him, so hopefully this is a turning point for him, but he’s got to stay hungry, keep doing what he’s doing.”
