Cup joy sparks Premier dreams for Leeds boss
Leeds United boss Thomas Christiansen was pleased with his side’s dramatic Carabao Cup win over Burnley, a triumph he hopes is merely a sneak preview of life in the Premier League.
The Championship leaders proved more than a match for their seventh-top Premier hosts, winning 5-3 on penalties after a frenetic end to the 90 minutes produced a 2-2 draw.
Late sub Pablo Hernandez was the catalyst as Leeds booked their place in the last 16, setting up Hadi Sacko for the opener, netting an injurytime penalty and hitting the target during the shootout for good measure.
Former Leeds star Chris Wood hit Burnley’s first equaliser and Robbie Brady added a fine free-kick, but it was Leeds’ night, with Stuart Dallas hitting the shoot-out winner at Turf Moor.
Christiansen, who has brought calm optimism to a club too often lacking in both, hopes to have many more of them against toptier opposition. “Before I came here, I knew about Leeds. I’ve followed English football since I was a kid and I knew Leeds were a big team,” said the Dane.
“They are a team who should be in the Premier League. This is what we are going to work on, day by day, one game at a time. We’ll do our best to achieve that this season.
“This was a tough game, 120 minutes of high intensity, and a very good opponent. But we came here with the intention to win.”
Sean Dyche, who made seven changes to Christiansen’s nine, stood firm in support of captain for the night James Tarkowski, who gave away an injury-time penalty then missed the crucial shoot-out spot-kick.
“It’s not a disappointing night for him at all, he’s learning a lot and doing fantastically,” said Dyche.
Liverpool – now four games without a win – exited 2-0 at Leicester, losing to second-half strikes from Shinji Okazaki and Islam Slimani.
Two other Premier sides went out. Stoke lost 2-0 at Bristol City, with Famara Diedhiou and Matt Taylor netting, while Huddersfield went down 1-0 at Crystal Palace respectively as Roy Hodgson earned his first win as Palace boss thanks to Bakary Sako’s header.
West Ham eased past Bolton 3-0, with Angelo Ogbonna, Diafra Sakho and Arthur Masuaku netting, while Swansea had Alfie Mawson and Jordan Ayew to thank for a 2-0 success at Reading.
Josh King fired an extra-time winner as Bournemouth beat Brighton for the second time in five days.