Super-sub Rodrigo’s late double helped Leeds to a crushing 4-0 win at Burnley to cement their hopes of a top-half finish.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side could still mathematically qualify for Europe but can realistically have eighth place in their sights after a second win in a row, sealed in style by their record signing in the final 15 minutes, while Burnley’s ninth top-flight home game without victory is now the longest run in their history.
Mateusz Klich had set the ball rolling a minute before the break when he capped a typically dangerous break by curling past stand-in goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell from 20 yards.
Jack Harrison doubled the lead on the hour mark with a deft flick turning home Ezgjan Alioski’s shot from a corner, before Rodrigo worked his magic.
The Spanish striker, who has undergone a season of transition at Elland Road, took himself past two defenders with a perfect first touch before dinking over Peacock-Farrell (74), then latched onto Harrison’s pass and rounded the ‘keeper to add a quickfire second (76).
Leeds make flagging Burnley pay
With around £2m per position in prize money to play for, there was far more than pride at stake at Turf Moor but without fans, the Clarets have found results on home soil hard to come by and have not won at their own ground since January 27.
They sprung into life early against their Yorkshire neighbours without testing Illan Meslier, while Peacock-Farrell was called into action from Leeds’ first chance of the afternoon, turning Patrick Bamford’s near-post effort away to safety.
The visitors’ top scorer saw little else of the ball before the break as those around him threatened instead to open the scoring. Pascal Struijk should have buried a header from a corner but planted it wide when unmarked.
Klich didn’t make the same mistake from a Leeds break shortly before the interval, taking advantage of the space given 20 yards out to bend the ball around Peacock-Farrell with a classy finish.
Burnley briefly spluttered into life again at the start of the second half, finally getting the ball into their two front men, and should have levelled when Matej Vydra met Chris Wood’s return, but was denied by Meslier’s legs.
Comments
Post a Comment