Thomas Christiansen shares what he told his Leeds players before penalty shoot-out

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Leeds United beat Burnley in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

Leeds United boss Thomas Christiansen has told BBC Radio Leeds that he told his players that they had already won against Burnley in Tuesday night, before the penalty shoot-out even began.

After a 1-0 defeat at Millwall on Saturday afternoon, manager Christiansen was looking to bounce back when Leeds took on Burnley in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

A trip to Turf Moor saw Leeds go up against former Whites stars Charlie Taylor and Chris Wood, but it was Leeds who took the lead against the run of play with ten minutes to play, as Hadi Sacko raced clear and smashed home the opener.

Wood then equalised from the penalty spot after Gaetano Berardi gave away a spot kick, only for Leeds to win a penalty of their own, with Pablo Hernandez scoring from the spot to make it 2-1.

Robbie Brady’s injury-time equaliser capped off a frantic last ten minutes, and after the game went to penalties, James Tarkowski’s spot kick was saved by Andy Lonergan, with Stuart Dallas stepping up to score the winning penalty for Leeds.

Leeds didn’t miss a single spot kick at Turf Moor, as Pierre-Michel Lasogga, Hernandez, Mateusz Klich, Ezgjan Alioski and Dallas all converted from the spot to send Leeds through to the next round thanks to superb accuracy and real bottle.

Stuart Dallas of Leeds scores the winning penalty

After the final whistle, manager Christiansen told BBC Radio Leeds that he told his players that they were already winners before the penalties even started, as they were superb against a Premier League.

Christiansen wanted his Leeds players to take that belief into the shoot-out, and he was grateful that his players hit successful spot kicks to keep Leeds in the competition at Burnley’s expense.

“The pressure there is on the players who kick, but I told them before they start kicking that until now, until the moment that we finished the 120 minutes, that in my point of view, they had already won with a big performance that they showed against a Premier League club, so they should take that with them,” said Christiansen. “We all know that only the one who kicks is the one who can miss, but everyone made a good kick,” he added.