Swiss defender Gaetano Berardi starts for Leeds United in today's U23 clash with Crystal Palace.

Leeds Live reports the 32-year-old severely injured his knee as Leeds' promotion campaign came to a close last season, and was faced with the prospect of being an injured free agent.

The club stepped in to extend his deal by 12 months in order to facilitate his recovery, and seven months on, Berardi appears to be at a level where Marcelo Bielsa deems him able to return to the fold.

Bielsa did stress Berardi would play U23 football before he would be considered for a first-team recall, in order to ensure he was firstly of the required standard, as well as fully-recovered from his lengthy spell out on the sidelines.

It is a similar path to recovery trodden by Spanish centre-back Diego Llorente. Upon returning from a number of setbacks, Llorente was handed an U23s start at Thorp Arch earlier this year prior to his first start against Newcastle United.