Raphinha’s cool finish allows relieved Leeds to lap up cheers
The Leeds players embarked on a lap of honour moments after Raphinha’s last-gasp winner, such was the magnitude of their victory.
The Brazilian forward had held his nerve, waiting for Vicente Guaita to commit himself, before scoring his 93rd-minute penalty.
From staring at another dismal stalemate, the home fans were celebrating rising to the relative heights of 15th place in the Premier League after a match they could easily have lost. There was a touch of relief to the jubilant scenes for what must have been one of the latest winners in the Premier League, with the most significant action after 10pm for a fixture with a later kick-off for TV. Supporters waving their white scarves will have known there was a touch of fortune to the result as substitute Christian Benteke, the striker who specialises in Tuesday night goals, missed two chances to secure victory for Crystal Palace. But with seconds remaining, Marc Guehi jumped and used his arm to clear Raphinha’s corner. When referee Kevin Friend was asked by the Var to look at his monitor, the winning penalty was inevitable.
“There is relief. We can breathe again,” Marcelo Bielsa, the Leeds manager, said. “The win was very necessary. We really hoped we could win this game because the results we had been getting weren’t good enough.
“To have a penalty in the last minute in such an important game is not easy. You have to have character and personality to be able to score it.
“In every game we play, all the points are important given the start to the season we’ve had, which hasn’t been good.
“In every game, it’s going to be an extreme necessity for us to get the points. After the goal, there were still five minutes to play. Only at the
end did we feel the win was ours.” It was the first time in two months they had recorded victory at Elland Road and it looked as though two of the draw specialists of the Premier League this season were heading for another share of the spoils.
The return of Patrick Bamford still cannot come soon enough for Bielsa, who has been encouraged by the striker managing to play for the Under-23s and hopes he will be ready for the weekend.
Without Bamford, Leeds have struggled for fluency in attack, but in this match the defeat was harsh on Palace, who had enjoyed the better chances before the late drama.
Only Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer have scored more goals on a Tuesday night than Benteke and the Belgian should have added to his tally when he came off the bench.
Wilfried Zaha’s cross to the back post left him with all the goal to aim at, but he went wide with his header.
Shortly afterwards he forced Illan Meslier to save on his goalline as he prodded a finish on target. The misses were costly as Guehi’s solid work during the match was undone in stoppage-time.
“I don’t need to speak to him about it, he is frustrated and will
learn from that,” Palace manager Patrick Vieira said. “We have to move through these situations, but I was pleased with the game he had.
“He is growing as a player and person, and I am impressed with his leadership since he has been here.”
Gareth Southgate was in the stands to watch Conor Gallagher and Kalvin Phillips, who returned to his midfield role and later wanted to make it clear he had not fallen out with Bielsa after being subbed at half-time at the weekend.
“I will play any position the manager asks me – if he wants me to play centre-back, I will play centre-back, if he wants me to play goalkeeper, I’ll play goalkeeper. I respect him so much, I will never fall out with him,” Phillips explained. “I saw a lot of things on social media and TV that me and the manager had fallen out. It’s never been the case, and I wanted to put that to bed.”
Leeds (4-2-3-1): Meslier 6; Dallas 7, Llorente 6, Cooper 6, Struijk 5 (Firpo h-t); Phillips 6, Forshaw 7; Raphinha 6, Klich 5 (Rodrigo h-t), James 7; Roberts 5 (Cresswell 90+5)
Subs Klaesson (g), Harrison, Gelhardt, Summerville 6, Shackleton, Jenkins Booked Struijk, Firpo, Dallas, Roberts
Crystal Palace (4-3-3): Guaita 6; Ward 7, Tomkins 6, Guehi 7, Mitchell 6; Gallagher 7, Kouyate 7, Schlupp 7 (Hughes 80); Edouard 5 (Benteke 68), Zaha 6, Ayew 6 (Olise 90) Subs Butland (g), Milivojevic, Eze, Riedewald, Kelly, Clyne Booked Ward, Gallagher
Referee Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)