Spanish forward Rodrigo has praised the “amazing” support of Leeds fans ahead of their Carabao Cup tie at Arsenal.
Rodrigo scored an added-time penalty to secure a 1-1 Premier League draw against Wolves at Elland Road on Saturday, a result which kept Marcelo Bielsa’s side three points above the relegation zone.
“I think we deserved more from the game,” said Rodrigo, who held his nerve to convert the penalty awarded for Nelson Semedo’s foul on 19-year-old substitute Joe Gelhardt.
“I thought we played really well and dominated the game from the beginning, until the end.
“Unfortunately we conceded a goal almost from nothing. It’s true that we deserved more, but also true that a goal in the last minute and with this atmosphere, we feel like we won the game.
“I am really happy for the goal, to score the penalty, especially in that moment. The most important thing is always the team and we deserved more.
“Everyone played really, really well after a bad game against Southampton, so that is the way we have to keep going for the next game.”
Speaking about the atmosphere inside a packed Elland Road, Rodrigo added: “It was amazing. We were pushing on the field, and the fans felt that, so they pushed us on.
“I think that for us today the support was really, really important to keep going. To maintain the faith in the win or drawing the match, and I think they helped us a lot.”
Leeds will be without the injured Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling, Junior Firpo and Robin Koch at the Emirates Stadium but Kalvin Phillips could feature for the first time since the start of the month.
Phillips was an unused substitute against Wolves following his recovery from the calf injury which saw him withdraw from England’s squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Hungary and also miss his club’s defeat at Southampton.
Raphinha limped off during the second half of the draw with Wolves but described the injury he sustained as “nothing serious” on social media.
