Chelsea v Leeds set for a feisty Wembley reunion as 1970 scars linger | OneFootball

Old grudges frame Chelsea and Leeds’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Sunday. Charlie Cooke says it will be feisty and that the rivalry has never really faded.

According to Leeds Live, the clubs meet at Wembley for the first time since 1970. Chelsea are on their worst league run since 1912, five straight defeats without scoring, a spell that could define the regime.

The 1970 replay is widely remembered as the most brutal match shown to an English football audience, yet referee Eric Jennings issued only one caution. On its 50th anniversary, Michael Oliver said modern interpretation would have meant 11 red cards, 7-4 to Chelsea, plus 16 bookings.

After a 2-2 draw on a ploughed Wembley pitch, Chelsea won the Old Trafford replay 2-1. Cooke supplied the cross for Peter Osgood’s late equaliser before David Webb forced in the extra-time winner from Ian Hutchinson’s long throw.

Now 83 and living in California after running a soccer school in Ohio, Cooke says this young Chelsea side are not short of experience. He points to internationals who lifted the Club World Cup last summer and says expectation at Stamford Bridge never wavers.

Leeds went on to lift the Cup in 1972 and were champions in 1974. It took Chelsea 35 years, and Roman Abramovich’s investment, to reach the summit.

Source: Leeds Live