Leeds United ended their 39-year wait for an FA Cup semi-final appearance after defeating West Ham United on penalties in a thrilling quarter-final at the London Stadium, extending their run to five consecutive Sunday victories in the competition.
With a place at Wembley at stake for two struggling Premier League sides, both teams began with clear intent.
Noah Okafor created the first danger when he forced Alphonse Areola into a full-stretch save, before West Ham broke quickly and required an even better stop from Lucas Perri to deny Valentín Castellanos.
Perri continued to impress in the Leeds goal and was called into action again shortly afterwards to push away Jarrod Bowen’s powerful drive across goal.
Those saves proved vital when Leeds took the lead midway through the first half. Daniel Farke’s side produced a flowing move, which ended with Ao Tanaka creating space inside the area before his effort deflected off Axel Disasi and under the crossbar.
Leeds should have doubled their advantage soon after when a rapid counterattack sent Anton Stach clean through, but Areola produced a strong save to keep West Ham in the contest.
A frustrated Nuno Espírito Santo responded with two attack-minded substitutions at halftime, yet West Ham’s first real chance of the second half came through two familiar figures, as Adama Traoré’s inswinging cross was headed against the post by Castellanos.
That miss was punished when Max Kilman brought down Brenden Aaronson inside the penalty area, allowing Dominic Calvert-Lewin to confidently convert from the spot and make it 2-0.
As the match moved towards its conclusion, Wilfried Gnonto came close to adding a third when he flicked Jayden Bogle’s dangerous delivery narrowly wide, and that miss would prove costly.
Matheus Fernandes then scored what looked set to be only a consolation for West Ham, with Leeds’ travelling support beginning to believe a first FA Cup semi-final in a generation was within reach.
However, there was late drama in the sixth minute of stoppage time when Traoré’s delivery was turned in by Disasi with a high boot, and after surviving a VAR check, the goal sent the tie into extra time.
The additional 30 minutes began in a frantic fashion. Castellanos appeared to have put West Ham ahead within two minutes, only for his effort to be ruled out for a marginal offside. Moments later, at the other end, Tomáš Souček produced a vital goal-line block to deny James Justin.
West Ham continued to press and thought they had scored again before the interval of extra time when Pablo finished after Bowen had struck the woodwork, but once more the flag denied them.
The second half of extra time was more subdued, with the main setback for West Ham being an injury to Areola, which forced them to hand a first-team debut to Finley Herrick just before the penalty shootout.
Herrick made an immediate impact by saving Joël Piroe’s penalty, but misses from Bowen and Pablo gave Pascal Struijk the chance to win it, and he made no mistake with Leeds’ fifth kick to send the Yorkshire side through to Wembley.
