A round-up of what the national media made of Leeds United's 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester City on Saturday evening.
Richard Garnett
13:00, 01 Mar 2026
Jayden Bogle of Leeds United and Rayan Ait-Nouri of Manchester City
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Leeds lost 1-0 to Man City on Saturday(Image: Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus)
The challenge put in front of Leeds United remains the same after they went down 1-0 at home to title-chasing Manchester City on Saturday evening.
An Antoine Semenyo goal on the stroke of half-time was enough to allow the visitors to depart Elland Road with all three points, leaving the Whites six points above the relegation zone after West Ham endured a similar pointless fate at Anfield.
Defeating high-flying City was always going to be a big ask for Daniel Farke's side, but they more than gave a good account of themselves and with another home match to come on Tuesday against Sunderland, confidence is high that Leeds can beat the drop on keep their Premier League journey on course.
Here's a round-up of what the national media made of Leeds' narrow defeat against Pep Guardiola's City.
Mike McGrath - Telegraph
This was a bruising, chaotic game but before kick-off there was a moment of calm in the technical area as Guardiola and Farke embraced. The pair have struck up an unlikely friendship, improbable as Guardiola rarely gets close to those he considers a rival. But after Farke beat him while at Norwich City, the pair have kept in touch.
It was easy to see why Guardiola has such respect for Farke’s football when looking at the first half-hour of this contest. Leeds were aggressive, in the faces of City and intent on attacking. They were all over City’s back line and caused Marc Guéhi and Rodri – usually unflappable – to panic.
Leeds, however, have been guilty recently of starting games at breakneck speed and fading. So it was a case of City staying patient and implementing their rope-a-dope tactics when there was tiredness in the legs of their opponents. As the interval approached, Leeds were punched out and City seized their chance.
Jonathan Northcroft - The Times
These 90 minutes started with Leeds cutting through Guardiola’s team and closed with them pounding City’s box. City were victors because of how they managed the bit between, with some sequences of vintage passing conducted by the exquisite Rayan Cherki, who was key to a beautifully constructed goal scored by Antoine Semenyo.
For Leeds it was a first defeat in 26 league and play-off matches kicking off at Elland Road after 5pm, an extraordinary statistic that underlined City’s achievement.
They could so easily have got something, but Jaka Bijol headed a corner wide when in front of goal in the 87th minute and Peter Bankes, the referee, declined to award a penalty, a minute earlier, when the ball struck the arm of Matheus Nunes.
Protests at full-time earned Daniel Farke a red card and, despite playing well, this was not a day Leeds will want to remember.
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Daniel Marsh - The Mirror
Daniel Farke quipped that Calvert-Lewin was 'the only striker to come close' to Erling Haaland after anointing the City man as the world's best centre forward. And with the Norwegian missing, Calvert-Lewin took centre stage.
The former Everton man has enjoyed a renaissance at Elland Road and already had 10 goals to his name before Saturday evening's big game. He had two golden chances to add to that tally in the opening 20 minutes but was unable to take either of them.
He was, though, a constant thorn in the City defence's side and will have a key role to play in Leeds' bid to beat the drop.
Daniel Unwin - The Guardian
Maybe it was the lack of Haaland, whose return has no timeframe, or the vociferous nature of the home crowd but Leeds were the dominant force in the opening stages. There was more aggression and intent in their play, leading to Dominic Calvert-Lewin having a glorious chance to open the scoring but he skewed Brenden Aaronson’s cross wide.
Calvert-Lewin and James Justin came close as City struggled to match their opponents’ tempo.
Tiring out Leeds was the cunning City plan as they kept the ball, moving the hosts about. The physical demands were too much for Joe Rodon, who felt his hamstring but was able to continue.
Neither goalkeeper was troubled for a lengthy period after the break as dangerous positions evaporated through poor passing and finishing. The match became relatively scrappy with quality lacking on both sides amid a collection of niggly fouls. It took until the 72nd minute for Darlow’s alertness to be tested when Marc Guéhi headed a corner at goal, only for the goalkeeper to palm it out.
Shamoon Hafez - BBC
Leeds fans were buoyed by their team's bright start, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin could not provide the goal that would have raised the roof.
Players and supporters alike will have left pondering what could have been against the title challengers, but this is a familiar outcome: Leeds have now lost their past six Premier League games against Manchester City.
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Brenden Aaronson poked wide from close range and James Justin had an effort smothered by Gianluigi Donnarumma in a flurry of first-half chances for the home team.
Substitute Jaka Bijol headed wide late on as Leeds searched for an equaliser, but a goal was to remain elusive.
Leeds could have put daylight between themselves and the bottom three after West Ham's defeat at Liverpool earlier on Saturday, but they remain six points outside the drop zone.