Chelsea 1 Leeds United 0 – the curse of Wembley. FA Cup Semi Final.
There is something about Leeds United in this era that feels like a curse on us. Having watched Leeds United lose to Southampton in the Championship play-offs in the same manner is heart breaking. Conceding an early goal and then managing only a tepid performance, it was over before it started.
After the highs of beating Manchester United and the late equaliser against Bournemouth, Leeds didn’t turn up at Wembley. Was it stage fright? Despite the 33,000 Leeds fans drowning out what Chelsea fans had turned up, the players could not lift their game. Is it a curse? It was a long way back to Leeds.
The buildup was a wow moment. With the Leeds fans singing their heart out to Marching On Together, holding up the yellow scarf from their seat. It was a heart-in-the-mouth moment. On a sunny Spring day, the stage was set for a memorable performance. Farke, loath to change his formations, swapped Darlow for Perri. Which was weird with Darlow in form.
Chelsea took the initiative from the start – pressing high to stop Leeds passing their way out from the back, passing sideways whilst Leeds gave them too much respect. After an early shot on target from Aaronson Chelsea began to lob the ball behind the Leeds defence.
It had all the signs of Chelsea scoring, and they did with Fernandes heading into the net between two Leeds defenders. Poor defending. This stirred Leeds, but every time Leeds had the ball in the Chelsea
Leeds came out fighting in the second half with Stach back in the team. Nmecha and Gnonto were brought on at 70 minutes to up the attack. Whilst they are good at changing games, the Chelsea defence absorbed the attacks down the wings. The physicality of Leeds notched up a gear and pressed Chelsea back.
When the Chelsea keeper went down, it was a blatant tactical manoeuvre. As the Chelsea players ran over to their interim coach for instructions, so did Ampadu. It was fun watching Ampadu join in with the Chelsea players. Leeds fans made a lot of noise. This tactic carried on for the rest of the match – players falling over, goal kicks taking forever, winding down the clock.
Leeds kept running down the wings. Stach had a shot on target Despite taking the game to Chelsea in the second half Leeds never looked like scoring.
Man of the match: Ampadu tried his best to keep Leeds moving from the midfield.
