{"id":314043,"date":"2026-02-24T03:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T03:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/314043\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T03:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T03:27:12","slug":"anton-stach-matches-25-year-leeds-united-record-with-aston-villa-stunner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/314043\/","title":{"rendered":"Anton Stach matches 25-year Leeds United record with Aston Villa stunner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/anton-stach-1140x641.jpg\" class=\"attachment-single-feature size-single-feature wp-post-image\" alt=\"Anton Stach in action for Leeds against Wolves at Molineux on 20 September.\" layout=\"fill\"  style=\"object-position: 50% 20%\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: Imago<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/42497037_112793056355587_2362487812462215168_n.jpg\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" alt=\"Richie Mills\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>   <\/p>\n<p> Mon 23 February 2026 16:10, UK <\/p>\n<p>Anton Stach\u2019s brilliant free-kick against Aston Villa put him alongside Leeds United greats.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/tag\/anton-stach\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stach<\/a> swapped Hoffenheim for <a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leeds<\/a> last summer for around \u00a317million on a four-year contract. <\/p>\n<p>Since then, he has scored four goals and added three assists in 22 Premier League appearances for the <a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/stadium\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elland Road<\/a> outfit. <\/p>\n<p>After a spell on the sidelines with a hip injury, Stach scored a goal of the season contender with a brilliant free-kick from just over 30 yards out at Villa Park on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>While Tammy Abraham grabbed a late equaliser in the 1-1 draw, <a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/tag\/daniel-farke\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Farke<\/a>\u2018s midfield maestro equalled a Leeds record dating back 25 years. <\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old became the second player, after Ian Harte, to score three or more direct free-kicks in a Premier League season.<\/p>\n<p>Anton Stach leading the way in Europe<\/p>\n<p>So far, Stach is developing a reputation for scoring wondergoals for Leeds, who sit six points clear of the relegation zone.<\/p>\n<p>While the 6ft 4in player has picked up a couple of knocks for Leeds this term, Stach has been an astute signing for the Yorkshire outfit.<\/p>\n<p>His ball progression skills, set-piece ability, physicality, and running power have helped Leeds turn into a very competitive side in recent months. <\/p>\n<p>Now, according to Opta Analyst, his prowess from set-pieces has come to the fore. They state no player has scored more goals directly from free-kicks in Europe\u2019s top five leagues than the German.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Since the start of last season, no player has scored more goals direct from free-kicks in the top five European leagues than Leeds United&#8217;s Anton Stach. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TFW0rS5xCk\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/TFW0rS5xCk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OptaAnalyst\/status\/2025247258208600365?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 21, 2026<\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>View Tweet<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sofascore.com\/football\/2026-02-21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Sofascore<\/a>, Stach made six recoveries, two interceptions, two clearances, and scored against Villa from an expected goal tally of just 0.04.<\/p>\n<p>Leeds will hope he can continue this knack of scoring spectacular goals as they aim to stay in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>Leeds\u2019 worrying trend threatens to derail progress made<\/p>\n<p>On paper, a point at third-placed Villa is a good result for Leeds, who sit 15th in the Premier League table. <\/p>\n<p>The result meant Leeds have lost just twice in their last 14 league games ahead of a tough test against second-placed Manchester City on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>And with Nottingham Forest and Tottenham losing, in addition to West Ham drawing, Leeds still hold a slight cushion over their relegation rivals.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Prem-table-3-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Leeds United in Premier League table\" class=\"wp-image-224457\" \/><\/p>\n<p>However, one potential area for concern for Leeds is their struggles to hold onto leads this season.<\/p>\n<p>Leeds have now dropped 17 points from winning positions this season \u2013 the fifth-highest in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>If they want to stay in the division, they may need to turn more of those draws into wins and losses into draws between now and May.<\/p>\n<p>For all the latest goings on at Elland Road, head over to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/tag\/leeds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Football Insider<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>  <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Imago Mon 23 February 2026 16:10, UK Anton Stach\u2019s brilliant free-kick against Aston Villa put him alongside&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[26699,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-314043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-anton-stach","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}