Credit: Imago

James Barker

Mon 27 April 2026 8:40, UK

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is “proud” of Leeds United‘s effort and progress made this season despite Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final loss to Chelsea.

Wembley Stadium can be a cruel place, and that it was for Leeds on Sunday.

Daniel Farke‘s side fell to heartbreaking defeat to bitter rivals Chelsea under the famous arch, as Enzo Fernandez will now forever be a name that sends shivers down the spines of Whites supporters.

However, it was also a day that displayed just how far this group and football club as a whole has come over the last couple of years.

As such, Leeds’ FA Cup semi-final loss will sting for a while, but when the dust settles, there is sure to be an overwhelming sense of pride and belief in what this team has achieved this season, and what they can go on to do in the coming years.

What has Dominic Calvert-Lewin said after Chelsea loss?

One of the big stories of this 2025-26 Leeds season has been the signing and rejuvenation of Calvert-Lewin.

Indeed, the 29-year-old has gone from the free agent scrapheap to Premier League goalscoring stardom once again, as he continues to top Leeds’ scoring charts with 11 league goals.

Having said that, given the fact that Man United’s Lisandro Martinez was shown a red card for a hair pull on him a few weeks back, Calvert-Lewin was lucky not to be sent off against Chelsea for a similar incident involving Marc Cucurella.

The PGMOL now have a major hair pulling consistency problem on their hands too, as the Whites number nine wasn’t even cautioned on Sunday, which is hard to justify when looking at the two instances of on display involving him.

Regardless, he wasn’t punished and went on to play the full 90 minutes at Wembley, but struggled to leave his impression on the game.

Taking to his Instagram story in the hours after the final whistle blew, Calvert-Lewin penned a message to Leeds fans detailing just how much pride he has in playing for the football club.

“Today wasn’t our day, but I’m so proud of how far we’ve come and to represent this club,” he wrote.

“Thank you for the amazing support as always, MOT.”

Leeds need to prioritise improving service to Calvert-Lewin

There will be a number of things on Leeds’ summer transfer to-do list, and one of them should be to prioritise finding more service for Calvert-Lewin.

He cut a fairly isolated figure at Wembley, recording just one effort on goal in the entire game which was a header in the 58th minute.

Other than that, he took only 26 touches on Sunday, with just two of those being inside the Chelsea box, and so he didn’t have much of an opportunity to be Leeds’ hero on the day.

And so, if Leeds are to progress further up the Premier League table next season, then being able to find Calvert-Lewin more regularly against the top teams is going to be crucial.