Southampton’s Oriol Romeu produces ‘one of the greatest tackles of all time’ before Leeds score three second half goals in win

Southampton suffered a 3-0 defeat to Leeds on Tuesday with the Saints eight games now without a win.

Patrick Bamford, Stuart Dallas and Raphinha all scored for Marcelo Bielsa’s side to give them all three points at Elland Road.

But it was Oriol Romeu’s who produced one of the most memorable moments of the game with his stunning first-half tackle.

Leeds forward Raphinha broke through on goal with five minutes left before the break and looked certain to at least get a shot against Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.

Romeu made up a serious amount of ground and managed to time his slide tackle to perfection to win the ball and deny an almost certain goal.

“Raphinha was about to pull the trigger and he’s produced, I’m going to say it Neil Redfearn, one of the greatest tackles of all time,” talkSPORT 2 commentator Mark Wilson said.

Ex-Leeds manager Redfearn added: “Unbelievable to be fair and he’s the only one who had not given up the ghost. There’s red shirts chasing back but he’s going back with the determination to go and win the ball.

“I don’t think he touches Raphinha you know. I don’t know if he’s just embarrassed he didn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”

The 3-0 scoreline did not reflect the true story of the game with action at both ends as Southampton’s luck continued to be out.

The Saints had a penalty overturned by VAR after Nathan Tella went down in the box with referee Andre Marriner heading over to the screen to reverse his decision.

There was also a bizarre incident where Che Adams had the ball in the back of the net from a quick free-kick but Marriner deemed it was taken just before he blew the whistle.

Redfern said: “It’s a little bit embarrassing that for Andre Marriner, to be fair, as the whistle blows he plays the ball. You would react like that. The Leeds defenders don’t react but Che Adams reacts, gets straight onto it and puts it in the back of the net.”

Stuart Dallas doubled Leeds’ lead in the 78th minute before Raphinha scored directly from a free-kick to wrap up all the points for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.