Football Team Play Themselves After Opponents No-Show

They often say that your toughest critic is yourself, so, by rights, Leeds United had one of their toughest games ever yesterday.

The Championship side were forced to play a match against themselves when the team they were due to play, Romanian side Viitorul Constanta, failed to turn up as scheduled in Santa Cristina, Italy.

Leeds were clearly concerned early on, tweeting the comments of their manager Dave Hockaday an hour before kick off. It read, "as of yet the Romanians haven't turned up but we are ready to play. We have officials, match kit and we are here."

To then give the fans who had turned up something to watch, they decided to play themselves - one team in their trademark white kits, with the other in the away kit of blue and gold.

The golds eventually triumphed 3-1, so Leeds were presumably both delighted with the win, and disappointed with the defeat.

The farce follows the club's recent episode where goalkeeper Paddy Kenny was sacked when the club's owner Massimo Cellino discovered that his birthday fell on an unlucky day of the week. You get the feeling that this could be an interesting season for the club.

(Images: Leeds United FC)