Chelsea blitz Leeds with second-half comeback in Carabao Cup thriller — Independent 9/9/26
Chelsea 6-3 Leeds: Chelsea trailed 2-0 but Xabi Alonso’s substitutes sparked a revival in a nine-goal thriller
Robert O'Connor
Chelsea scored four times in 12 second-half minutes as Leeds
suffered a Carabao Cup collapse to lose 6-3 in the third round at Stamford
Bridge.
The visitors led 2-0 just after half-time thanks to Tarik
Muharemovic and Brenden Aaronson against a Blues side showing nine changes from
Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal, but after Xabi Alonso sent on Cole Palmer at the
head of four half-time substitutions, everything changed.
Palmer got two in two minutes to equalise – the first a
penalty – then Pedro Neto, another half-time introduction, scored to complete a
six-minute turnaround.
Danny Welbeck made it four as Morgan Rogers marked his
impact from the bench with three assists.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored as Leeds looked to pick up the
shattered pieces of what had been an excellent away performance, but which was
rubber-stamped as a horror show when Valentin Barco got his first goal for the
club to make it five. Welbeck headed in a sixth in stoppage time.
A topsy-turvy game was further evidence of Chelsea’s new
reality under Alonso, that they have a fine first XI capable of scintillating
attacking football but a squad that lacks quality in depth and is defensively
brittle.
Their second string were a poor second best in the first
half. Understudy goalkeeper Mike Penders made two impressive save but then a
costly error to hand leads their opener, conceding a needless corner from which
Muharemovic headed in.
There was barely a flicker of a response from the Blues.
Their only chance came when Reggie Watson – the debutant 16-year-old son of
former Wigan defender Ben – started a move with a lovely ball out wide that was
flicked by Pep Chavarria into the path of Jamie Gittens, whose drive was pushed
into the side-netting by goalkeeper Michael Zetterer.
Alonso evidently had seen enough. He sent on Reece James
alongside Rogers, Neto and Palmer for the second half, but Chelsea’s situation
got worse almost immediately.
Just over two minutes in, Barco lost possession needlessly
and Leeds worked it wide to Ethan Ampadu who crossed, Lukas Nmecha flicked on
deftly and Aaronson strode onto the ball unmarked to slam home.
Then the came a remarkable fightback, led by Rogers and
Palmer. Dan James stood on the foot of Chavarria and from the penalty spot
Palmer made it 2-1.
His goal to equalise only seconds later was well taken but
surely an error from Zetterer, a gentle caress of a finish into the corner that
left the goalkeeper inexplicably rooted to the spot.
Neto rolled Chelsea into the lead from Rogers’ pass before
the hour mark as Leeds’ capitulation continued apace.
Welbeck’s goal was arguably the best of the lot. Rogers
picked him out with a low ball into the box but the the veteran striker had
everything still to do, dragging the ball inside before dodging by his defender
and firing straight through Zetterer.
