Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips impresses England manager Gareth Southgate

That was the message from United midfielder Kalvin Phillips following another significant moment in his home-town club’s season following an eye-catching victory at Everton.

Making just his second start for Leeds, Brazilian winger Raphinha put gloss on an outstanding personal performance with his first goal for the club in the 79th minute, a clinical low drive.

It ensured that Leeds celebrated a first league success in 14 matches at Goodison Park as they came away with three points from the blue half of Merseyside for the first time since 1990.

The richly-deserved victory on a night when United recorded 23 shots on goal has put Leeds in good spirits ahead of six fixtures in the festive month of December, which incorporates eagerly-anticipated trips to Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford.

On the impact of Raphinha, 23, who joined from French outfit Rennes for a fee of £17m plus add-ons in early October, Phillips said: “It was a special moment for Rafa.

“I have been telling him he is going to score a goal whenever he gets the chance. He came close over the past few weeks, but now he has finally got one.

“He is very good and has got everything. To come into the side not shortly after being signed, he has done excellently and I think that goes down to us integrating him well into the squad and him working hard.

“We started well and got on the front foot and created chances and knew eventually it would come and we had to defend well and we did that.”

Despite Raphinha being afforded the lion’s share of the bouquets, it was also a night when Phillips’s contribution to the Leeds cause was again immense.

A stylish performance in which has showed the full range of his passing skills was witnessed by England manager Gareth Southgate and it will not have gone unnoticed.

On Southgate being in attendance, Phillips added: “That is nice and I put in a good performance, but I will keep working hard and trying to play as well as I did and keep progressing.

“It is all about the team. If the team don’t play well, I do not play well. It is about playing well collectively as a team and the manager is on about that every week.”

Head coach Marcelo Bielsa – who pitted his wits against another world-renowned coaching great in Carlo Ancelotti for the first time – was also effusive in his praise of the match-winning contribution of Raphinha, while professing thanks to director of football Victor Orta for bringing the player to the club.

He said: “Raphinha has adapted very quickly to the Premier League. Victor anticipated he had the characteristics to play in the Premier League. He was correct in choosing him.

“It was a victory which was very difficult to achieve. I think we played well.

“But to defend against a team with so many players who can unbalance is complicated.

“We have many players who can play in different areas of the pitch. Those who attack can defend as well, and those who defend know how to attack. This allows for the combinations.

“Raphinha is a player who can unbalance. He can play in any part of the pitch with resources to worry the opponent.”

A fourth clean sheet of the season is likely to be something that Bielsa will have also derived pleasure from as Leeds became just the second top-flight team to stop Dominic Calvert-Lewin – who has struck 13 goals in all competitions for Everton this term – from netting against a visiting side at Goodison Park in 2020-21.

It was also a night when Bielsa held his nerve and was rewarded after resisting the urge to make changes when the game was still goalless after Leeds had spurned a stack of chances.

Bielsa said: “It was a game where it was very difficult to come on. You had to come in ready; there was a big intensity and you needed to be switched on to be able to come on.

“I thought that unless there was something indispensable, I was not going to make changes.”

On his team shutting out Calvert-Lewin, he continued: “It is not easy to neutralise him.

“The whole team made a big effort defensively to stop him, especially our centre-backs against him. But he had chances to score and we worked so that the opportunities he had on goal would be difficult ones.”

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