Leeds United’s 21 Olés at Old Trafford: A timely reminder of football’s very soul | OneFootball

Leeds United fans probably should have known that they were asking for trouble when they put together 21 Olés away at Old Trafford on Monday night.

Two-nil is a dangerous lead, as they say.

And that proved to be the case, even against ten men, with palpitations off the charts after the hosts got one back. A Bruno Fernandes cross. A Casemiro header. How many times?

It was only eight minutes after all those Olés that Manchester United were back in the game, prompting a last 20 minutes that featured some major heart-in-mouth moments. Only a Dominic Calvert-Lewin goal-line clearance denied that Fernandes-Casemiro combination an equaliser.

Leeds have dropped 17 points from winning positions this season. They’d be sitting comfortably in mid-table if they just showed a bit more nous and composure in holding onto slender leads.

Bournemouth, Fulham, Man City, Newcastle, Aston Villa. Time and time again, Leeds have thrown away vital points from favourable positions. We’ve seen this story before.

Daniel Farke’s side have conceded 11 goals in injury time this season, the most of any Premier League team, including two at West Ham in the FA Cup.

Given that, you can’t help but admire the sheer chutzpah of Oléing as if it was 1972 and they were watching Don Revie’s greatest Leeds team destroy Southampton. Fatalism? No thanks. We are Leeds.

These are the fans who will gleefully sing “Leeds are falling apart” with a wink, knowing full well it could come back to haunt them in earnest. Should they know better? Of course. Will they ever learn? Of course not. Call it a mantra.

It would have been Very Leeds™ to go and lose 3-2 in a game that they could conceivably have been four or five up in, squandering a historic opportunity to register a first league win away to the old enemy in almost half a century.

Just as it would have been Very Leeds™ to go on and lose on penalties to a child debutant goalkeeper in their FA Cup clash down at West Ham.

But what actually happened?

Leeds won on penalties at the London Stadium, booking their first FA Cup semi-final since 1987. They followed that up by seeing out their one-goal lead at Old Trafford, even with seven minutes of injury time, to register their first league win at Old Trafford since 1981.

This team have made history twice in as many games. Not only did they get a long-overdue bragging rights away to their rivals, but the three points are massive.

They’ve moved six clear of the relegation zone; OPTA give them a 1.61% chance of going down and their odds with the bookies have lengthened to 18/1.

Survival is in reach. There’s a trip to Wembley, potentially two, on the horizon. This season is turning out as good as anyone could conceivably have imagined.

It’s only what this wonderfully committed Leeds team deserve. Jamie Carragher was effusive in his praise of their latest display.

“They were absolutely fantastic,” raved the former Liverpool defender from the Sky Sports studio.

“The majority of this season, they’ve been a breath of fresh air, have Leeds.

“We had them first game of the season on MNF against Everton, some of the football they played that night was excellent.

“But how they performed in that first half, I think will send a shiver down the spines of everybody in that relegation fight. Because, they didn’t just hang on, they absolutely bossed Manchester United in that first half.”

These are the nights, and the performances, you dream of. If you can’t revel in your team knocking it about in your rivals’ backyard as if they were Zico’s Brazil, you might as well pack it up and go home.

Had Manchester United actually come back from two goals behind to snatch three points away, it wouldn’t have been because the fans were Oléing from the stands – no matter how much you might believe in the concept of tempting fate by angering the football Gods.

Ultimately, what’s the worst that could’ve happened? They would’ve looked a bit daft. Got some stick back.

If you don’t have the stomach for that, you’re in the wrong sport.