A trio of European Leeds United stars ended the international break victorious with one defender enjoying a perfect four-game period.
The final round of international fixtures took place on Tuesday night with a total of four Leeds stars in action. One of them was Dominic Calvert-Lewin, albeit the striker only played eight minutes during England’s 3-0 Nations League win over Czechia.
Three of Calvert-Lewin’s teammates on the continent played a significant amount of minutes, the most notable being Nico Elvedi. The centre-back started and played the full game as Switzerland won 3-0 at home to North Macedonia.
Nico Elvedi started all four games for Switzerland during the international break.placeholder image
Nico Elvedi started all four games for Switzerland during the international break. | AFP via Getty Images
Goals from Fabian Rieder, Johan Manzambi and Dan Ndoye capped off a perfect international break for the Swiss, who won all four matches while conceding just once. Elvedi has played every available minute and been crucial to that fantastic defensive record.
Swiss outlet Blick handed Elvedi a rating of 5/6 on Tuesday, the joint-highest score alongside three teammates. They wrote of the Leeds defender: “He won the majority of his duels and imposed his physical strength.
For the latest Whites news, sign up for the YEP’s free Leeds newsletter
“He has established himself as the best Swiss central defender since the start of the year and maintained that level, though Manuel Akanji matched him this Tuesday. A robust performance nonetheless - as is always the case in 2026.”
At club-level Elvedi has been keeping Jaka Bijol out of the Leeds starting-XI but he also played four full sets of 90 minutes during the international break. On Tuesday, the centre-back featured in a 2-1 comeback win over Scotland at Hampden Park.
Ryan Christie put Scotland ahead on the half-hour but second-half goals from Aljosa Matko and Danijel Sturm flipped the game on its head. Bijol made six defensive contributions according to FotMob, also winning two duels but losing four.
And Ilia Gruev also played a full 90 minutes on Tuesday night, captaining his Bulgaria side to a 2-0 win away to Luxembourg. Both goals came in the first-half through Kristiyan Balov and Atanas Iliev.
Uniquely, Gruev started all four Nations League games during the break and played 90 minutes in three despite not featuring for Leeds at all this season. The midfielder is yet to return from a knee injury suffered in April although he’s been back fit for a few weeks.
Gruev, Elvedi and Bijol will all now return to West Yorkshire and importantly, none of them look to have picked up any fitness issues. The trio should therefore all be available when Leeds head to Arsenal on Saturday.