Kiko Casilla will still receive his clean sheet bonus for Leeds United’s farcical 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday, according to The Times.
The Spaniard was forced to concede an equalising goal by manager Marcelo Bielsa after his side had opened the scoring when they played on instead of putting the ball out of play for a Villa injury.
But Casilla, who is the only United player to have a clean sheet bonus written into his contract, will not be penalised for that incident, and will still be paid his fee for the game.
OPINION
This seems like the right thing to do, to be fair. Casilla conceded, but he hardly had a choice in the matter, and it would be harsh to break the terms of his contract over such a bizarre incident. Perhaps a better way to think about this game would be that it wasn’t a goal that made the scoreline 1-1, but rather, one that essentially returned the score to 0-0. Either way, Casilla shouldn’t be penalised for doing the right thing, and if that means paying him his bonus then so be it. United have drawn a lot of plaudits for their sportsmanlike approach to redressing the balance in that match, and while it was certainly the right thing to do, the chances are that Bielsa knew very well that allowing Villa to equalise was a much better idea than his side taking three points that would have been ultimately meaningless, and a whole lot of stick to boot.