Fulham 0-0 Leeds (5-6 on pens)

Fulham were beaten 6-5 by Leeds United on penalties after playing out a goalless draw in the Carabao Cup.

The scoreline does not do justice, though, to what was an entertaining encounter at Craven Cottage.

The Whites probably had the better of the chances, but found Illan Meslier in fine form.

And Leeds’ goalkeeper continued his exploits in the shoot-out, denying Rodrigo Muniz at the end to knock us out of the competition.

Having made 10 changes for our previous Carabao Cup fixture, Marco Silva went for a clean sweep this time around, with an entirely different side to the one that started against Reading three days earlier.

These included a full debut for Muniz, a first appearance under Silva for Cyrus Christie, and Alfie Mawson sporting the captain’s armband. Academy graduates Taye Ashby-Hammond, Marlon Fossey, Ollie O’Neill and Jay Stansfield were all on the bench.

Within two minutes, Muniz had a chance to build on Saturday’s goal when Neeskens Kebano’s deep cross picked him out at the far post, but the Brazilian’s downwards header bounced back up off the turf and over the bar.

He went much closer moments later, though. Joe Bryan burst forwards and played a smart through ball for our number 19 to run onto and smash first time, but visiting goalkeeper Meslier was able to beat his powerful strike away.

Leeds had their first opening on nine minutes when they capitalised on a loose pass to break quickly, but Marek Rodák saved well from Tyler Roberts.

Despite a high tempo to the play, the chances had dried up in the first half, that was until Rodrigo Moreno’s one-two with Mateusz Klich ended with a sight of goal for the Spanish international, only for him to scuff tamely wide.

Fulham retaliated immediately with a vicious dipper from Josh Onomah that flew off his foot cleanly from 25 yards. Meslier struggled with it but got away with his failure to hold onto the shot.

Five minutes before the break Rodák made the best save of the game so far when he parried away Moreno’s free-kick, despite only seeing it at the last second.

The Whites then had a set-piece of their own in a dangerous position after Domingos Quina was clipped by Kalvin Phillips on the edge of the box. Kebano couldn’t have done anything more with his effort, curling it inside the post, but Meslier was able to palm away at full stretch.

A minute after the restart Leeds had a glorious opening when Dan James gobbled up a loose ball and drove forward at pace. He then fed Moreno for what would have been a clear shot at goal, but Michael Hector made up ground brilliantly and hurled himself in for a perfectly timed last-ditch block.

As we’ve seen him do in each of his cameos to date, Muniz was really putting himself about, and was unlucky to see his header from Anthony Knockaert’s free-kick brush across the top of the net.

Onomah had been a problem for Leeds all evening and he almost broke the deadlock in style with quarter of an hour to play when he let fly from distance. The swerve almost caught Meslier out, but the France Under-21 international readjusted his positioning quickly, allowing him to make a fine reflex save.

The aerial prowess of Muniz had also been a useful outlet, and he’ll be disappointed he couldn’t nod Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s cross on target with five to play.

Hector, Moreno and Muniz all had half chances to win it for their respective sides in stoppage time, but ultimately there was nothing to separate the teams until the penalty shoot-out.

Moreno was fortunate to see his first kick get through Rodák who went the right way, the sort of luck that deserted Onomah who thwacked his kick against the bar.

There were no mistakes from James, Ivan Cavaleiro, Phillips, and Kebano, but Rodák then made a huge stop to keep out Stuart Dallas’ strike. Unfortunately, Joe Bryan smashed over and the opportunity to level up passed up by, something Adam Forshaw replicated with the next kick.

Hector needed to net to take things to sudden death, and the big man obliged with a cool shot into the bottom corner.

Junior Firpo, Alfie Mawson, Joe Gelhardt, De Cordova-Reid and Stuart McKinstry all then dispatched flawless penalties, meaning Muniz was the unfortunate man whose miss proved decisive.

All of his teammates were straight over to the 20-year-old to commiserate with him, as he looked distraught at what had happened. No doubt he will bounce back quickly, though.