Leeds United came out on top after a rollercoaster FA Cup quarter-final clash at West Ham on Sunday.
Gary Lineker thought Leeds United had blown their FA Cup chances after conceding twice late on at West Ham before digging themselves out of a hole from 12 yards.
Leeds were two goals up and cruising towards a first FA Cup semi-final for 39 years as the clock hit 90 minutes on Sunday, with goals either side of half-time from Ao Tanaka and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. But 11 minutes of added-time brought nerves and Daniel Farke’s side contrived to concede in the 94th and 97th minutes.
Those goals kickstarted a chaotic end to the evening in East London, with West Ham then seeing two goals disallowed for offside before having to replace goalkeeper Alphonse Areola with 30-year-old debutant Finlay Herrick before penalties. Joel Piroe saw his opener saved but Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Brenden Aaronson, Willy Gnonto and Pascal Struijk made no mistake.
Lucas Perri saved efforts from Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Felipe to send Leeds into a first FA Cup semi-final for 39 years. But when the whistle went to end the 90 minutes, it didn’t look like being that way.
“It looked like Leeds had blown it,” Lineker told The Rest Is Football. “I thought West Ham played really well in the second half. They had a lot of chances, hit the post a couple of times, a couple of disallowed goals. It was a thrilling finale, but Leeds managed to dig themselves out of that hole by winning the penalty shootout.”
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Conceding twice in added-time will be of concern to Farke, given it’s the second time that’s happened to his side this season, but Leeds showed character to stem the flow of West Ham momentum in extra-time. They were also the ones to hold their nerve from the spot.
“I thought Leeds were the better team in normal time, then West Ham were the better team in extra-time,” former Manchester City defender Micah Richards added. “Then West Ham had a couple of goals disallowed, Leeds couldn’t get going, then Areola gets injured and they bring on a young kid at 20. He saves the first penalty, it was written for him.
“The game was just bonkers! [Adama] Traore was really good for West Ham, Tanaka scored a goal, who I mentioned at the start of the season. It was a really great game, and you were just thinking, can Leeds get over the line? All in all, it could have gone either way.”
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