Leeds United - Championship Winners

For this blog, late goals always matter. They matter at the time, in the moment, form a memory, and change outcomes of games. And, if there are enough of them in a season, they might just make the difference between winning a title or not! I started drafting this post a little while ago:

Obviously, I needed Leeds United to close out the season successfully and fend off Burnley to clinch the Championship title. That would bring most of my planned blog about their late goals earlier in the season into play. Little did I know that I would get the spectacular good fortune that there would be one more spectacular late twist on the last day of the season to get them over the line and add a final flourish to this story!

Take a quick look at some of the mega moments below which started from the get-go on the opening day of the season:

10th August 2024. Leeds 3-3 Portsmouth. +1. Brendan Aaronson is back and scores a 90+5 equaliser to salvage a point. And wipe out Portsmouth’s 3-2 lead that had been earned via a 90+2 penalty! Leeds avoid what would have been a damaging opening day defeat.

24th November 2024. Swansea 3-4 Leeds. +2. Incredibly, Swansea’s 90th minute equaliser wiped out Leeds’ lead only for Wilfried Gnonto to restore the lead immediately on 90+1. Instant response to turn a despairing draw into a wonderful win!

14th December 2024. Preston 1-1 Leeds. +1. A 90+3 own goal helped Leeds avoid what would have been a second defeat in four games and add another crucial point to their tally just before Christmas.

17th February 2025. Leeds 2-1 Sunderland. +2. Having already bagged the equaliser on 78 minutes, Pascal Struijk was the late hero with a second on 90+5 to ensure all three points stayed at Elland Road.

24th February 2025. Sheffield Utd 1-3 Leeds. +2. Because this came against a key promotion revival, this one gets an honorary mention! Technically, the game-changing goal came on 89 minutes via Ao Tanaka as he gave Leeds a 2-1 advantage. But Joel Piroe sealed it a minute later so we’re having it entered here!

This roll call of late Leeds goals gave them a net gain of +8 points going into the final day of the season. And, yes, I accept the creative licence by only including favourable late moments. And I haven’t even looked at any of Burnley’s late moments. Author’s discretion and all that! Before kick-off on the final day, the top of the table had Leeds and Burnley tied on 97 points. A win apiece would bring the ton up for both teams. Should that scenario transpire, Leeds would be champions by virtue of their better goal difference. Disclaimer: barring something like a 14 goal victory for Burnley.

Burnley went behind after 11 minutes but quickly levelled at home to Millwall. They went in at half-time at 1-1 but the bigger drama was at Home Park where Leeds trailed 1-0 to Plymouth courtesy of an 18th minute own goal. The ‘as it stands’ table had the title heading to Turf Moor.

A Wilfried Gnonto leveller on 53 minutes edged Leeds temporarily back into top spot until Burnley took the lead shortly after the hour mark. That was our lot until an incredible finale would see late goals at both grounds!

Burnley were coming under sustained pressure from a Millwall side that still harboured (albeit rapidly diminishing) hopes of a play-off berth for themselves. Home fans tension finally eased with Josh Brownhill’s second goal of the afternoon on 90+3 to clinch a 3-1 victory. However, the atmosphere somewhat tempered by the dramatic events unfolding elsewhere.

Leeds fans on 90 minutes:

Leeds fans on 90+1 minutes:

All thanks to this man:

And here’s the neat bit. On-loan from Tottenham, Manor Solomon netted his 10th goal for Leeds in injury time to secure the precious win that put them on 100 points and confirmed them as champions. That goal ensured that late winners for Leeds had delivered 10 additional points over the course of the season - a crucial 10% of their total overall points.

It left the final table looking like this:

Congratulations to Leeds! In a similar manner to Liverpool last week, there were memorable scenes as fans got to celebrate a title victory in person given both teams previous Premiership and Championship titles had to be secured without fans due to the pandemic. Plenty of sore heads across Leeds and Liverpool recently!