Leeds United partner club Cultural Leonesa win 2-0 over Gimnastic

Finally some good news for Cultural Leonesa fans.

After rumours appeared in the press that Leeds United were looking to purchase a player for the express purpose of loaning him to Cultural in order to improve results at their partner club, Cultural won a match for the first time in months, moving them out of the bottom four in the table and towards mid-table safety.

Reports out of Spain came out in the summer that Cultural Leonesa, the Aspire Academy owned club, had entered into a informal partnership with Leeds United in the Championship in England. Ivan Bravo, who sits on the board of Leeds United, is the director of the Aspire Academy in Qatar, so it only makes sense that Leeds and Cultural would enter into an agreement.

Leeds already have one player on loan at the club, Ouasim Bouy, although the loan deal for the former Juventus player hasn’t gone according to plan. And while Leonesa is playing in the second division in Spain for the first time in years, it would be disappointing for both Aspire and Leeds to see the club be relegated. Hence the rumours about Leeds signing La Liga 2 journeyman striker Alfredo Ortuño and sending him on loan to Cultural in January.

Cultural scored twice late in the match to win the match against Gimnastic, breaking their long winless streak. Cultural had not won a match since mid-September, a 3-2 victory over La Liga 2 leaders CD Huesca. Cultural had dropped into the relegation zone after losing to 3-1 to Lugo on 10 December, so yesterday’s win against Gimastic had to bring relief for fans of the Leon club, as they have now jumped up to 15th in the table on 22 points. And while Leonesa are still only two points above the relegation zone, hopefully the club can build on the victory to achieve mid-table stability for the season.