"I've been ill" - Junior Firpo makes surprise Leeds United revelation after Middlesbrough win | OneFootball

Leeds United left-back Junior Firpo has made a shocking personal revelation about Monday night's controversial game against Middlesbrough.

The Dominican Republic full-back had one of his best games of the season in what was a very tricky tie for Leeds. Firpo provided two assists on the night; one for Patrick Bamford's easy finish against his old club, and the other for Crysencio Summerville's second, and ultimately crucial, goal of the night, to put his side 4-2 up.

Emmanuel Latte Lath also netted a brace in the Monday night fixture, but it wasn't enough to get his side back into the contest.

Boro could have got a point from the match had Wilfried Gnonto's goal, which was Leeds' third of the night, been ruled out for being offside. Replays showed that Summerville's pass to the Italian came when he was in an offside position, but the assistant referee didn't deem him to be behind Boro's last defender when he was played in behind.

Michael Carrick felt that not only was his side hard done by, but that Leicester City and Ipswich Town, who Leeds are battling with for automatic promotion, would not be happy with the decision, as per the Northern Echo. Daniel Farke said, after the match, that he felt that a decision finally went his side's way this season.

Their win against the Teeside outfit put them into second place in the Championship, and a point above Ipswich. They can increase that gap when they play Queens Park Rangers, at Loftus Road, on Friday.

Junior Firpo's shock revelation about Middlesbrough match

Despite his dazzling display at the Riverside, Firpo revealed, after the game, that he was almost sick during the second half because of an illness that he and some other players in the side have been battling with this week.

"I've been with a fever [for] three days, I've been ill today, a few lads were feeling the same, we have a little bit of illness in the squad," said the 27-year-old, via the Yorkshire Evening Post.

"This shows how important it is to be ready, everyone was ready. Everyone was living everything, including myself, including Jaidon [Anthony] who was ill. As I say a few lads were ill, including myself. I was about to throw up in the second half. It was tough."

This bug isn't the only health scare that concerns the Whites right now. Their German boss revealed that Daniel James, who replaced Gnonto with less than 10 minutes to go in the 90, picked up a knock to his core, which Farke said could be bad news if it turns out to be a major injury.

Joe Rodon, who played the full match, was kicked in the calf during the game, but the manager said that this isn't a worry for them, as per Leeds Live.

Junior Firpo will play a key role in Leeds' final two games

Just over 180 minutes is all United have left to try and secure one of the top two spots in the Championship.

QPR always make for tough opposition, especially at home, and a visit from Southampton on the final day of the season, who play Leicester tonight, will be increasingly hard as the Saints will want to drag Leeds back into the play-offs with them.

One area of the pitch where the Whites are short, and have been for most of the season, is at full-back. Connor Roberts missed the trip to the northeast because of injury, and Sam Byram stepped in at right-back. Teenager, and Championship Young Player of the Season, Archie Gray has also filled in at the back when needed.

There were no obvious replacements for Firpo or Byram on the bench on Monday night, so Firpo's performance came at a great time. Farke doesn't have the option to replace him with anybody else, so he needs to maintain these levels over games 45 and 46 of Leeds' 23/24 Championship campaign to give his manager one less thing to worry about.