Anton Stach’s Miserable Summer Ended With One Kick of a Football

Anton Stach did not get his call-up for Germany this summer. He picked up an injury on the last day of the season before that. His pre-season was, in his own manager’s words, not top-class. And then, in the 88th minute at the City Ground, with the game drifting into a goalless draw, he curled a free-kick from distance that caught Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels completely off guard at his near post, and turned three months of frustration into the winning goal of Leeds United’s first Premier League match of the season.

The goal also handed Oliver Glasner defeat in his first match in charge of Forest, in a tight contest where both sides created chances almost exclusively from set pieces. Forest had the better of the opportunities across 90 minutes without finding a breakthrough, while Leeds goalkeeper James Trafford and his Forest counterpart both produced key saves to keep the scoreline level until Stach’s intervention settled it.

Farke: ‘The Summer Was Not the Easiest for Him’

Leeds manager Daniel Farke used his post-match interview with Sky Sports to lay out exactly how difficult Stach’s build-up to the season had been before delivering the decisive moment of the match. “I’m delighted with Stach. The summer was not the easiest for him,” Farke said. “He didn’t get the call-up for Germany, then he was out with injury on the last game day. He had a tricky pre-season and wasn’t top-class in the first weeks, but I got the feeling in the last 10 days that he was getting better in the final games. He got the edge to start and when you’re there with the decisive goal, it’s good.”

Stach’s route to Saturday’s moment had been anything but smooth. The German midfielder joined Leeds from Hoffenheim for a reported £17.4m in the summer, becoming the club’s sixth signing of the window as Farke strengthened his squad for a return to the Premier League. A two-cap Germany international, he had spent the early part of pre-season fighting for his place after missing the national team call-up and picking up the injury Farke referenced, arriving at Saturday’s fixture with barely 10 good days of form behind him. None of that showed in the moment itself, a free-kick struck with total conviction from a wide position that beat Sels at the near post and sealed Leeds’ first Premier League win at the City Ground in 54 years.

Farke was careful to temper any celebration with a reminder of the scale of the task facing his promoted side across a full season. “It’s still a long road. We need to collect 40 points, we are not naïve. The last time this club was able to have two solid seasons at [top-flight] level, you will perhaps find it in black and white photos,” he said. “You won’t find them on smartphones, they weren’t invented then. For that, we stay humble, not too greedy and stay grounded. We know first and foremost we have to earn the right to establish ourselves in the Premier League.”

Forest Created the Better Chances but Could Not Finish

For long spells, Forest looked the more likely side to break the deadlock, with Brazil international Igor Jesus at the centre of their best moments. Jesus joined Forest from Botafogo for £10m in 2025 on the back of a campaign that produced 17 goals and six assists in 59 games, a run that included the winning goal against Paris Saint-Germain at the Club World Cup and a part in Botafogo’s Copa Libertadores triumph. In the 17th minute, he rose to head a long throw from Ola Aina at goal, only for Trafford to make a smart save. Three minutes before half-time, Nikola Milenkovic flicked a James McAtee cross onto the far post, and Trafford then denied Jesus from close range as the rebound fell his way. McAtee joined Forest from Manchester City for a fee that could rise to £30m, leaving the club that developed him as an academy graduate over 12 years in search of regular first-team football.

Leeds registered their first shot on target in the 47th minute through Brenden Aaronson, whose effort from inside the box was saved by Sels. Aaronson had signed a new contract at Elland Road until 2029 just two days before the match, having returned from a loan spell at Union Berlin to play a key role in Leeds’ Championship title-winning campaign last season.

Forest continued to press after the restart, with Jesus heading over from a promising position in the 54th minute after another Aina delivery, and substitute Chris Wood, who joined Forest permanently for £15m in 2024 after an initial loan from Newcastle, dragging a shot wide five minutes after coming on when played through by Murillo. Sels produced the save of the afternoon in the 69th minute, pulling off what was described as a wonder stop to deny Tarik Muharemovic from inside the penalty area. All of it went unrewarded once Stach stepped up in the 88th minute.

Glasner: ‘A Lucky Punch That Was on Their Side’

Glasner, taking his first game in charge of Forest, was left to reflect on a performance he felt deserved at least a point. “It was a very tight game, very few chances. Every chance was from set pieces. It was clear one situation would decide the game or it’s 0-0,” he told Sky Sports. “Unfortunately it was for Leeds and a direct free-kick for Stach. We knew he is a good taker and that’s why it’s disappointing.”

He pointed to Forest’s second-half performance as a source of encouragement, one that came in a losing effort. “The second half, we were a little bit better in the game, we played more in their half without having big chances. We had two or three situations where we could score, but we did not. It was a lucky punch that was on their side,” Glasner said. “Everybody gave their best. The players worked very hard, intense and wanted to get the win. That’s why I’m looking forward in a positive way, that’s the foundation of everything. We’re learning from this defeat, we’re at the beginning of this journey and not burying our heads in the sand. Unfortunately we lost, but I saw many encouraging things today. This is the way we decided to go, this is the way we continue to go.”

A Difficult Start to Glasner’s Reign

Forest appointed Glasner in July, making him the club’s fifth head coach in twelve months after Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche and Vitor Pereira had each held the role across a turbulent period following last season’s 16th-place finish. Glasner arrived with a strong recent record, having led Crystal Palace to the FA Cup, the Community Shield and the Conference League before his move to the City Ground. The upheaval in the dugout sits awkwardly alongside the club’s on-field ambitions, with Forest’s recruitment under Nuno two years ago built in part around a return to European competition for the first time in three decades, a target the club will hope Glasner can build more consistently than his four immediate predecessors managed.

Farke’s own route back to the Premier League with Leeds took two attempts. Having already won two Championship titles with Norwich City earlier in his career, he arrived at Elland Road in July 2023 and saw his first season end in play-off final heartbreak against Southampton. Leeds returned in 2024-25 to win automatic promotion as champions with a club-record points total, a campaign that also brought Farke the LMA’s Championship Manager of the Year award. Saturday’s win at the City Ground opened Farke’s second season back in the Premier League with Leeds, and gave him a player to build around whose summer had, until that moment, gone almost entirely unnoticed.

A Result That Cuts Both Ways

For Leeds, the win offers early proof that their promoted squad can compete physically with established Premier League opposition, even in a match where they managed only a handful of clear chances themselves. Stach’s free-kick arrived against the run of general play but rewarded a Leeds side that stayed compact and waited for its moment, a pattern Farke will hope becomes familiar across the season.

For Forest, the concern will be conversion rather than creation. Jesus, Milenkovic and Wood all had presentable openings without scoring, and Sels’ save to deny Muharemovic prevented an even heavier margin of missed chances from becoming apparent in the scoreline. Glasner’s first match in the Forest dugout ended in defeat, but the underlying performance, built on territory and half-chances rather than being overrun, gives him a platform to work from as his tenure begins in earnest. For Stach, the concern that loomed largest three months ago, a missing Germany call-up and a lost place in his own side’s pecking order, will feel a long way off after the moment that decided this one.