What made penalties ‘difficult’ for Leeds United shoot-out hero Lucas Perri in FA Cup fourth-round win over Birmingham City?

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Leeds United's FA Cup hero Lucas Perri said it was "difficult to see" which players were taking penalties for Birmingham City due to The Blues not having numbers on their shorts. The Brazilian made the crucial penalty save in the shoot-out to send Leeds through to the fifth round after his side had drawn 1-1 with Championship side Birmingham City. But why was it so difficult for Perri?

Highlights: Leeds survive scare with Blues vanquished in shoot-out

Video credit: TNT Sports

Leeds United’s Emirates FA Cup hero Lucas Perri said it was "difficult" to know which Birmingham City players were taking penalties in the shoot-out due to there not being numbers on the shorts.

Perri made the crucial penalty save for Leeds, diving to his right and getting enough on Tommy Doyle’s spot kick to prevent it going in.

Patrick Roberts, who scored the equaliser in the 90th minute to take the game into extra time, also missed for The Blues, blazing high and wide, leaving Sean Longstaff with the fourth penalty to send Leeds through to the FA Cup fifth round, which he took with aplomb.

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Perri had a water bottle with the numbers of all the Birmingham players and where they were likely to take their penalties but, due to the home side’s kit, that was rendered largely useless.

Why could Perri not see Birmingham’s squad numbers?

Birmingham opted to wear a special kit for the clash with Leeds to mark their 150th anniversary.

Collaborating with kit supplier Nike and shirt sponsor Undefeated, The Blues wore a kit that was reminiscent of their iconic blue and white "penguin" kit.

Birmingham City wore a special "penguin" kit to mark their 150th anniversary which had no numbers on the shorts.

Image credit: Getty Images

The shirt had no name on the back, just the squad number, and also had no number or name on the shorts, just like the kit worn in 1876 when the club were formed.

This meant all the preparation that Perri and the goalkeeping coach had done ahead of the tie, in anticipation of a shoot-out, was not really helpful.

Thankfully for the Brazilian and for Leeds fans, the keeper did not let that affect him and he made the crucial save.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Perri said: "It was an incredible fight from the team. We had a very difficult game.

"It is always difficult to play against a side like Birmingham, so congratulations to the whole team for the fight, and we go through to the next round.

Perri makes 'really good stop' to put Leeds in shoot-out driving seat

Video credit: TNT Sports

"We had a video, but unfortunately for the first two penalties, since they don’t have the numbers on the shorts, it was difficult for me to see.

"The third one, we didn’t know exactly where he shot, so I went off instinct and I'm happy to help the club.

"It is always good to have a good game like this, the confidence I have in myself doesn't depend on the result but obviously it is nice to have a win like this and I hope to keep going and helping the club as always."

Ampadu praises Leeds ‘character’

Wales midfielder Ethan Ampadu praised the character of Leeds in finding a way to advance to the fifth round.

The Blues equalised in the 90th minute through Roberts and momentum could easily have swung the way of the home side.

But Ampadu, who replaced Facundo Buonanotte after Leeds failed to impress in the first half, was proud that the team found a way to regroup and not crumble, before Perri’s heroics saw them through.

"Not just me but the whole team, we knew before we spoke that that wasn’t the levels of our performance," Ampadu said.
"We pride ourselves, you have to fight, you have to work hard, that is what the fans want and we didn’t do that in the first half.

"They were the better team, probably the better team throughout the game, they had some good chances but we had to get back in the game, we had to fight, we had to show character and that was it."

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