What must Liam Rosenior have made of this? After being sacked as Chelsea’s head coach on Wednesday, his former players showed all the commitment that was missing during his four months in charge to battle their way past Leeds courtesy of a winning goal from – surprise, surprise – Enzo Fernández.
Only eight years ago, Rosenior’s interim replacement Calum McFarlane was an assistant coach for Isthmian League side Whyteleafe. But even if he does not yet own a pro licence, McFarlane has now become the first English manager since a certain Frank Lampard to reach an FA Cup final, where they will face treble-chasing Manchester City next month. The irony that it was Fernández – after being dropped for two matches by Rosenior for fluttering his eyelids at Real Madrid during the last international break – that came up with the decisive goal after 23 minutes was surely not lost on his predecessor.
Leeds, who were backed by an army of fans that had made the trip from West Yorkshire hoping to avenge their defeat to Chelsea after a replay in the 1970 final, tried valiantly to respond. But Daniel Farke’s side Robert Sánchez in top form for once as the much-maligned goalkeeper pulled off a string of saves to end their hopes of reaching a first final since 1973 and make it no goals from their last four visits to Wembley. For the record, Eric Cantona in their 1992 Community Shield victory over Liverpool remains their most recent one.
Despite their poor record here, there had been plenty of optimism among the Leeds supporters as they made their way up Olympic Way in the April sunshine after an unbeaten run of seven matches that has steered them closer to Premier League safety. A banner referencing their song Marching on Together was unveiled in the end behind Lucas Perri’s goal before kick-off. “At least until the world stops going round,” it read, while the Chelsea fans who had been chanting for Lampard’s return on the tube gave a nod to their infamous meeting here 56 years ago with a line from the Suggs song Blue Day on theirs at the other end. “We’ve got some memories. Albeit from the 70s.”
Released in 1997 when Chelsea went on to win their second FA Cup when Ruud Gullit was in the dugout, that may be slightly outdated these days. Yet the avalanche of trophies they picked up during the Roman Abramovich era must also seem like a distant memory after the last four years under the ownership of BlueCo. McFarlane, whose managerial debut was a creditable draw with City at the Etihad back in January after the departure of Enzo Maresca, now has an opportunity to win a first domestic trophy since their FA Cup triumph in 2018 when he was still working in non-league football. “Maybe at the end of the season reality will hit,” he said afterwards. “But there’s so much that’s coming thick and fast that you don’t even have time to take it in, honestly.”
Even if Leeds made the more positive start, it soon became clear that this was a different Chelsea team to the one that lost so meekly against Brighton in midweek to hasten Rosenior’s departure.
Brenden Aaronson had the first sight of goal when he was played in by Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s flick after Trevoh Chalobah gave the ball away cheaply. But Sánchez pulled off a magnificent save to tip his shot over the crossbar and it proved to be a turning point as Chelsea seized the initiative.
João Pedro found space inside the penalty area and thumped his shot off the near post after being set up by a clever ball by Fernández. Leeds did not heed the warning. Pascal Struijk failed to deal with a long ball forward and Pedro Neto made him pay as he burst down the line before delivering a perfect cross for Fernández to head home. After four straight defeats without scoring under Rosenior, it was Chelsea’s first goal since their 7-0 hammering of Port Vale in the previous round on 4 April.
Whatever Farke said at half-time seemed to have the desired effect as Leeds came out for the second half with renewed intent. Inside the first 60 seconds, somehow Sánchez was able to tip over a piledriver from the substitute Anton Stach that was destined for the top corner and almost looped back under the crossbar on its way down.
Chelsea responded immediately when a clever backheel from Fernández set up João Pedro inside the area but the Brazilian was unable to get his shot away. Calvert-Lewin was next to be denied by Sánchez before tempers frayed after Moisés Caicedo received the first booking of the afternoon on the hour mark, with Roméo Lavia and Ethan Ampadu exchanging a few choice words. The yellow card count was up to five by the end but Chelsea took the sting out of their opponents courtesy of some time-wasting tactics that raised the ire of the Leeds fans, who must be wondering if their luck at Wembley will ever change.
