Leeds United were beaten 3-2 by Real Betis in their latest pre-season friendly on Saturday afternoon.
Patrick Bamford opened the scoring in the sixth-minute of proceedings, but Betis then took the game by the scruff of the neck.
Goals from Aitor Ruibal, Borja Iglesias and Youssouf Sabaly had the La Liga outfit 3-1 ahead by the 55th-minute.
Leeds halved the deficit shortly after through midfielder Mateusz Klich and it looked as if there was potential for a comeback.
But Betis held on to secure victory in a game that had many positives for both teams ahead of the 2021/22 season.
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There was one significant lowlight from the match, though.
Late in the second half, Betis playmaker Nabil Fekir kicked out at Leeds' Pascal Struijk in a rather brutal manner after the two had been battling for possession of the ball.
The Frenchman's cynical challenge resulted in Struijk eventually having to leave the field of play injured and it's remarkable that Fekir wasn't sent off.
Instead, he only received a yellow card.
Leeds tweeted a video of the challenge from their official account and you can take a look at the footage for yourself below.
Fekir kicks out at Struijk
That's got to be a red card, right? It doesn't matter if it's a pre-season friendly, players cannot be allowed to get away with a cowardly kick from behind like that.
We can only hope that the decision to substitute Struijk was merely a precautionary measure and that the defender has avoided serious injury.
Leeds have two more pre-season friendlies over the next week or so before the 2021/22 Premier League season kicks off on August 13th.
Next Wednesday, Bielsa's side take on Ajax and three days after that, they do battle with Unai Emery's Villarreal.
