Daniel Farke and his Leeds United side will be disappointed with the events at Wembley on Sunday. Despite everything that happened in the build up to the game, the Whites failed to capitalize.
Chelsea suffered a heavy defeat to Brighton and Liam Rosenior was sacked 24 hours later. Calum McFarlane was appointed interim, and had less than three days to put a game plan together for the semi-final. Ultimately, the Blues’ plan worked, as the only goal of the game come from them beating Leeds’ high press, leading to the defence being outnumbered and Enzo Fernandez capitalizing.
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The game was really stop-start compared to what happened on Saturday when Southampton faced Manchester City. Chelsea resorted to time wasting in the second half when they had the lead, with many pundits condemning the antics post-match. Blues keeper Robert Sanchez went down with an apparent injury, but was buying time for a team talk on the sideline.
Leeds were involved in some controversy of their own, as Dominic Calvert-Lewin escaped a red car for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair in an aerial duel. The striker did not have the best of games on Sunday, despite some key chances falling to him. After the game, the 29-year old posted this message on his Instagram addressing the fanbase after the defeat.
“Today wasn’t our day but I’m so proud of how far we’ve come and to represent this club. Thank you for the amazing support as always. MOT”
Leeds are back in action on Friday night, as they face Burnley with a chance to confirm their survival in the Premier League.
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Whites could have done better on Sunday
The match could have gone a completely different way at Wembley. That early missed chance from Brenden Aaronson was a serious blow to the team’s momentum. Enzo Fernandez’s goal was a setback, but after that the Whites were arguably the better side. Daniel Farke made some changes to inject some pace into the game, but it was a little bit too late. Leeds did all they could, but they just failed to convert their chances like the close-range header from Dominic Calvert-Lewin after Noah Okafor’s wonderful cross. This game will be one that Leeds fans will want to forget for a long time, but overall it has been a good season for them.
