Southampton beat Leeds 1-0 in the English Championship Playoff final and he took the third promotion to the Premier League 2024/25. You can watch the game again on Star+.
After the disappointment of not achieving the two promotions directly, which fell into the hands of Ipswich Town and Leicester City, which won the championship, Leeds was again at the gates of glory in the Playoff final, an instance in which they had to face Southampton at Wembley.
The Saints They agreed to this match after leaving West Bromwich on their way in the semifinals, while the Peacocks They beat Norwich to earn their place in the decisive event at the legendary Wembley.
Typical of a final, Leeds and Southampton played a very hard-fought game where the margin for error was minimal. The only difference It was scored 24 minutes into the first half. and was scored by scorer Adam Armstrong, who accumulated 24 notes throughout the entire competition.
The Saints attacker defined a cross against Meslier after receiving a perfect filtered pass from Will Smallbone and put his team ahead, which began to caress for promotion.
Leeds tried to react to the scoring blow of Russell Martin’s team but their level was far from what they had shown in the semifinal series. He took control of the ball and, with the support of his people, burned all the ships to achieve equality and corner Southampton.
They managed to impose their superiority only in the first 15 of the complement. The Peacocks They filled the Saints area with crosses and even managed to get some rival players to earn yellow cards trying to stop the offensives, but they took a long time to worry Alex McCarthy in those remaining 45 minutes.
Southampton began to feel more and more comfortable. He retreated, ran and scored to maintain the goal advantage. He relied on the counter as the main method to sentence the game, a situation that ultimately did not arise in the complement. Time became Leeds’ enemy and the clock was playing more and more in favor of ‘Soton’. When the game entered decisive territory and there were less than ten minutes left, those led by Farke had a very clear chance to tie the final.
Daniel James shot with great quality in the 83rd minute and broke the crossbar of the goal defended by McCarthy. Everyone in the white sector shook their heads and with good reason: there, in that ball that did not even manage to bite and enter, Leeds saw the opportunity to return to the First Division pass.
The game did not go any further and, having consumed more than 9 minutes that were played after the regulation 90, Southampton celebrated the long-awaited return to the Premier League after a season in the Second Division and will join Ipswich Town and Leicester in the top flight of English football.
