Report | Swansea City 1 CD Leganes 0
Joseph Opoku struck the only goal of the game as Swansea City rounded off their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 victory over CD Leganes.
The 20-year-old, who joined the club on a four-year deal last month, opened his Swansea account with a superb strike from distance on just his second appearance for the club, which ultimately proved to be the matchwinner.
New summer signings Moussa Yeo, Elijah Just and Opoku all made their home debuts under head coach Vitor Matos, who marked his return to the Swansea.com Stadium having signed a new contract through to 2030 earlier this week.
Fresh from putting pen to paper on his new deal, Matos made five changes to the side that defeated Italian top-flight outfit Udinese last time out. Josh Key, Marko Stamenic, Just, Opoku and Cameron Burgess all returned to the starting XI, with the latter captaining the side following his return from the World Cup.
It was the Swans who created the first opening after just seven minutes. Following a neat passing move, Key slipped a ball through to Yeo in behind the Leganes defence, but the winger was unable to get a shot away after the offside flag was raised.
At the other end, Lawrence Vigouroux was nearly called into action when Alvaro Tejero flashed an effort narrowly wide after Ismael Gharbi had found space inside the Swans’ defence.
Swansea should have taken the lead not long after when a delightful ball from Key picked out Adam Idah, who held the ball up well before laying it off to Just. The summer signing cut inside and curled an effort narrowly wide with his weaker foot.
The Swans continued to move the ball well and, midway through the half, Stamenic was afforded time and space outside the penalty area. The midfielder unleashed a powerful effort towards the bottom corner, but Raul Fernandez produced a strong diving save to his right to keep the scores level.
Three minutes before the interval, Swansea deservedly took the lead. Idah’s pressure forced a loose back pass from the Leganes defence, with Fernandez racing from his goal to clear. However, his attempted clearance fell straight to Opoku, who calmly fired home his first goal for the club with a superb first-time finish from around 35 yards.
The goal capped an encouraging first-half display from the Swans, who had looked comfortable in possession and created the better of the opportunities.
Swansea continued their momentum after the restart and came close to doubling their advantage when Opoku curled an effort narrowly wide from outside the box following neat interplay between himself, Just and Idah.
Midway through the half, Vigouroux was called into action when substitute Jorge Herrero made a darting run in behind Burgess and Filip Lissah. However, the Swansea goalkeeper stood firm to deny the Leganes forward and preserve the Swans’ advantage.
With 15 minutes remaining, a first-time pass from Jay Fulton set Swansea on the attack, with Leo Walter making good ground before picking out Ronald with a well-weighted pass, but the forward’s effort was well saved by Fernandez to prevent the Swans from adding a second.
Swansea held firm during the closing stages to secure a deserved victory and finish their pre-season campaign with a clean sheet and a positive result ahead of the new Championship season.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux, Josh Key, Marko Stamenic (Inoussa 74), Melker Widwell (Walta 46), Elijah Just (Fulton 62), Josh Tymon, Cameron Burgess (C) (Heywood 74), Filip Lissah (Parker 87), Joseph Opoku (Ronald 62), Adam Idah (Vipotnik 74), Moussa Yeo (Eom 46).
Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Paul Farman, Evan Watts, Thomas Woodward.
CD Leganes: Raul Fernandez, Marvelous Garzon, Ignasi Miquel Pons (C) (Pulido 46), Gonzalo Lopez, Yassine Kechta (Campos 54), Alejandro Milan Iranzo, Zico Buurmeester, Enric Franquesa (Garcia 46), Ismael Gharbi (Herrero 65), Miguel Angel Atienza, Alvaro Tejaro (Peña 46).
Substitutes: Nicholas Lozano, Alfred Gothler, Djibrill Gueye, Beltran Paolucci, Suleiman Mohamed.
Attendance: 4,979