Hahahahahahahahaha
Leeds United went full Leeds United on Wednesday night. Having won the first leg of their playoff semi-final away at Pride Park 1-0, all they had to do was draw against Derby County at Elland Road and they would meet Aston Villa at Wembley in the playoff final. As their newly coined chant states, ‘we beat you at home, we beat you away’. It shouldn’t be too much of an ask of the players to see this tie out, but this is Leeds we’re talking about.
Derby ended up winning 4-2 on the night, 4-3 on aggregate, thanks to a crucial brace from Jack Marriott, who has given Frank Lampard a huge selection dilemma ahead of the final.
The celebrations were, as you’d expect, wild. There were the sort of limbs that will be rewatched for years to come on Twitter. The players were on cloud nine, having become the first team to lose the first leg of a playoff semi-final at home and overturn the deficit in the second leg.
To celebrate, a few of the Rams players mocked Leeds by making what can only be described as a binoculars gesture, alluding to the ‘spygate’ scandal that dominated the conversation around their first meeting this season.
To refresh your memory, there was uproar after Marcelo Bielsa sent a staff member to spy on Derby’s training ahead of their first meeting in the Championship. A culture clash saw the English football media and thousands of fans slam Bielsa for “cheating”, while any level headed individual appreciate that a man like Bielsa leaves no stone unturned in his preparation, as he demonstrated in a press briefing to local journalists in the aftermath of the fallout.
Much to David Nugent’s amusement (pictured below behind the three banter merchants), three Derby players mocked Leeds’ failure to beat them again despite spying on their preparation earlier on in the season.
This is shithousery that makes football fun. Kudos to these players. I hope none of them have to pay for a drink tonight.
