{"id":325019,"date":"2026-04-26T22:56:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=325019"},"modified":"2026-04-26T22:56:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:26:17","slug":"daniel-farke-singles-out-chelsea-star-for-praise-after-leeds-fa-cup-semi-final-defeat-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/26\/daniel-farke-singles-out-chelsea-star-for-praise-after-leeds-fa-cup-semi-final-defeat-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Farke singles out Chelsea star for praise after Leeds’ FA Cup semi-final defeat | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\t\t\t<\/div>
Enzo Fernandez scored the one goal of the sport as Leeds missed out on a spot on this yr\u2019s final (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Daniel Farke congratulated Chelsea and singled out Robert Sanchez for special praise his Leeds side missed out on a spot on this yr\u2019s final with a 1-0 defeat at Wembley.<\/p>\n

Enzo Fernandez headed Pedro Neto\u2019s cross beyond Lucas Perri to open the scoring within the twenty third minute and the Argentine\u2019s early breakthrough proved decisive, with Leeds coming up short seeking an equaliser.<\/p>\n

Anton Stach and Dominic Calvert-Lewin each squandered golden opportunities to make all of it square as Sanchez stood strong after what has been a tricky difficult for the error-prone Chelsea goalkeeper.<\/p>\n

And while Leeds threatened to take the tie to extra-time within the closing stages, the Blues held firm to advance through to the FA Cup final for the seventeenth time within the competition\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Calum McFarlane, who took over the reins on an interim basis after Liam Rosenior\u2019s sacking at Chelsea, will steer the club into this yr\u2019s showpiece against Manchester City on May 16.<\/p>\n

The west London giants are aiming to lift the trophy for a ninth time, having last triumphed under Antonio Conte back in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u2018To begin with, congratulations to Chelsea for making their way through to the ultimate,\u2019 Leeds head coach Farke told TNT Sports shortly after the ultimate whistle.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Chelsea\t<\/div>
Sanchez sent an emphatic response to his doubters at Wembley (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n\t\t\"Chelsea\t<\/div>
Fernandez\u2019s first-half header proved decisive (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I feel it\u2019s fair to say it was a really tight game. If you could have a take a look at the statistics, we had more expected goals, more shots, more shots on track, more big probabilities missed.<\/p>\n

\u2018It could go in each directions however it\u2019s also fair to say that we weren’t at our free-flowing best today, especially in the primary half.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s not that we were played off the park but we made one or two unnecessary mistakes within the build-up, a bit clumsy, and gave kind of the one situation where Chelsea had a likelihood.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Chelsea\t<\/div>
Interim manager McFarlane will lead Chelsea into this yr\u2019s final (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Farke highlighted Sanchez\u2019s assured display between the sticks for Chelsea, with the Spaniard proving a thorn in Leeds\u2019 side within the second period.<\/p>\n

\u2018We had the primary likelihood to attain, an enormous likelihood, and it was an excellent save from their goalkeeper as well,\u2019 the German added.<\/p>\n

\u2018Second half, we tried all the pieces, we modified out base formation and brought more offensive-thinking players in. We went a bit more men-against-men, also from the beginning were dominant. <\/p>\n

\u2018The goalkeeper again, there have been good saves against Anton Stach and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Manchester\t<\/div>
Chelsea will do battle with Manchester City on May 16 (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Our set-piece deliveries and crosses weren’t that precise, like in the previous few weeks, and weren’t that free-flowing in and across the opposition box so we didn\u2019t create enough clear-cut probabilities. That is what we will criticise.\u2019<\/p>\n

In accordance with Farke, Leeds\u2019 players had displayed signs of \u2018nervousness\u2019 across the 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u2018Perhaps you would feel a bit that the lads were a bit nervous. A lot was made out of this game and we weren’t at our absolute best today,\u2019 he explained.<\/p>\n

\u2018But yeah, it\u2019s football. In tight games, the team defends a bit more concentrated wins the sport and this was today Chelsea and for that, congratulations to them.\u2019<\/p>\n

Asked if the occasion had perhaps affected his players, Farke replied: \u2018Yes, after all.<\/p>\n

\u2018The players usually are not used to play at all times on a Champions League-level. A lot of product of it being the primary game in 4 a long time.<\/p>\n

\u2018Yes, after all it\u2019s difficult. The commitment was there, the trouble was there.<\/p>\n

\u2018We were competitive and likewise had our probabilities, however it was perhaps that we were a bit nervous in possession to create more and dominate the sport.\u2019<\/p>\n

More to follow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Steven Gerrard makes daring claim over \u00a360 million Chelsea star \u2013 \u2018they give the impression of being a special team\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Joe Cole showers Chelsea \u2018warrior\u2019 with praise after FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Who’s Calum McFarlane? Chelsea interim manager in charge for the remainder of the season<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tComment now<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg><\/span>
\n\t\t\tComments<\/span>
\n\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg><\/span>
\n\t\t\t\tAdd as preferred source<\/span>
\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enzo Fernandez scored the one goal of the sport as Leeds missed out on a spot on this yr\u2019s final (Picture: Getty) Daniel Farke congratulated Chelsea and singled out Robert Sanchez for special praise his Leeds side missed out on a spot on this yr\u2019s final with a 1-0 defeat at Wembley. Enzo Fernandez headed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":325020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20686],"tags":[1289,1060,7554,3691,37732,5479,23171,5233,3000,2127,795],"class_list":["post-325019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-chelsea","tag-cup","tag-daniel","tag-defeat","tag-farke","tag-football","tag-leeds","tag-praise","tag-semifinal","tag-singles","tag-star"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325019"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325022,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325019\/revisions\/325022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}