Leeds United produced one of their best performances of the season to smash Norwich City 4-0 and book their place at Wembley, prompting reaction from Salim Lamrani and Jermaine Beckford.
The two sides had just played out a cagey 0-0 draw on the weekend in the first leg at Carrow Road, with Leeds’ form a worry going into the play-offs having lost four of their previous six league matches.
But the draw in East Anglia saw Leeds hold a slight advantage going into the second leg at Elland Road. Not many will have expected just how good Leeds were going to be on Thursday night, winning 4-0.
Ilia Gruev gave Leeds the lead with a cheeky free-kick, catching Angus Gunn out at his near post. It was 2-0 soon after, when a beautiful Willy Gnonto cross found Joel Piroe in acres of space to head into the net.
A third came before half-time when Georginio Rutter slammed one into the top corner and Crysencio Summerville tapped in a fourth after half-time. Pretty much, the perfect night for Leeds and Daniel Farke.
Leeds fans were absolutely delighted with their side’s showing in Yorkshire and both Beckford and Lamrani posted on X, even before the end of the game with the result beyond doubt.
Lamrani and Beckford react as Leeds smash Norwich to win 4-0
A quite incredible result from Farke’s side given that the aggregate score against Norwich from the three previous games was only +2. On Thursday, Leeds produced a display to double that tally and in 4-0.
It sees Farke’s men cruise to the final at Wembley on May 26, where they will take on either West Brom or Southampton. The Saints are favourites having beaten Leeds twice both home and away during 2023-24.
Marcelo Bielsa’s translator Salim Lamrani posted a handful of tweets throughout, ending with a fourth Tweet: “Off to Wembley, Leeds!” while icon Beckford said: “What a team we are, Wembley see you soon.”
The perfect night, ended in the perfect way by Leeds and Farke
It is widely expected to be Liam Cooper’s last season at Leeds and that meant that Thursday night was Cooper’s last game as a Leeds player at Elland Road and Farke made sure he didn’t miss out.
The skipper came on with 10 minutes to play and Ethan Ampadu immediately handed the left-footed defender the captain’s armband, to the delight of the Elland Road faithful with the scoreline at four.
Cooper might not have thought he would get a chance to step onto the field of play again with it being unlikely he gets a chance in the final at Wembley but it was the perfect night, and the perfect moment.