Anton Stach celebrates with his teammates
Anton Stach celebrates with his teammates(Image: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
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Ethan Ampadu has described Anton Stach as a “very important” character to have in the Leeds United dressing room, besides his on-pitch quality.
Stach’s free-kick - his fourth dead-ball goal since arriving at Leeds, a Premier League high - saw Leeds to their first top-flight win at the City Ground since the 1971/72 season and made sure the Whites began the season with maximum points.
While his penchant for a free-kick is obvious, so is his off-field character. The German’s humorous social media posts and his YouTube channel have offered fans an insight into his life both inside and outside of football.
“I think what you see on YouTube, what you see on the pitch, what we see from him doing - even the burger thing the other day - that's Anton,” Ampadu told reporters after full-time on Saturday.
“He lives his life the way he wants to be. He's just himself. He's a great character to have around. Everyone is, we get on so well with each other. That was shown in our pre-season trip as you guys saw in some of the videos. But yeah, he's very important.”
Of course, none of this would be as endearing if Stach’s on-pitch performances were below the required standards. The midfielder did not have his best game before his strike, partly influenced by him taking time to get back up to speed following his ankle injury in May.
Indeed, Daniel Farke had considered taking him off before his bolt from the blue. But all is forgiven when a player provides the bit of magic needed to turn one point into three.
“No it’s not, but it’s always nice,” said Ampadu when asked if he was surprised by Stach’s free-kick success any more. “I mean, he showed it all last year. His quality shows every day in training.
“His free kicks are exceptional and frankly, he put another one in the back of the net today. Is it handy to rely on? 100%, because let's be honest, the Premier League is one of the toughest leagues, if not the toughest league in the world.
“And there's going to be a lot of very tight games where a bit of magic from a set-piece is going to have to unlock a team and that's what happened today.”
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