London: The historic rivalry and grudge reached a boiling point in this intense game which saw Chelsea edge Leeds in a 3-2 win.
The brutal match of hard tackling produced three penalties, the last of which was decisive with the final kick of the match as the two sides squared-up at a corner flag with the referee and officials intervening.
Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel, speaking about defender Antonio Rudigar, who was involved in two of the penalties awarded to Chelsea, said: “Toni is an emotional leader and an aggressive leader on the pitch and he cannot not get involved if there are team-mates to protect or are in an argument. This is 100 per cent Rudigar. I can understand their frustration because we have all been in this situation where you think you have a point or you have equalised and then it slips away. You get angry and frustrated.”
He added: “Leeds are a strong team and they hate to lose like we do and they get heated up.” About Chelsea scoring in added time, Tuchel said: “I was confident we would get one more chance to turn things around. You need a bit of luck to get such a late goal. We needed this win desperately for the mood, for the belief, for the atmosphere and I’m very happy how we got it.”
Leeds took the lead after 28 minutes with Marcos Alonso’s sliding tackle fouling Dan James and Raphinha, after converting the penalty, goaded Chelsea supporters with performing a samba.
But three minutes before half-time the London side equalised as Stuart Dallas lost possession to Alonso who raced to the byline and crossed for Mason Mount to sweep the ball in with a first-time shot.
Chelsea went in front thirteen minutes after the break when Raphinha rashly wiped out Rudigar in the penalty area. The resultant spot kick taken by Jorginho sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.
Then came a bit of a fairy tale for Leed’s teenager, Joe Gelhardt who came on as substitute in the 82nd minute and only a minute later, with his first touch, guided the ball in from a cross by Tyler Roberts. It was his first goal for the club.
The final twist in this gruelling encounter was left for the last minute of added time and, not surprisingly, it triggered the eruption. Rudigar received a pass in the box and in tackling him, Mateusz Klich tamely kicked the back of his leg. VAR confirmed the penalty and Jorginho converted again. Then as Chelsea kept possession, waiting for the final whistle, a full-on confrontation followed between the players.
Leeds manager, Marcelo Bielsa, said: “We deserved a draw, our performance merited it. The performance helped us think we can recover the version that allows us to compete with the best.” He added: “Errors are part of the game, unless they are unjustified or impudent. I wouldn’t class either of those penalties as that. The incident at the end was within the margin of what is tolerable.”
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