The opening period was far from easy for the Blues. With Alonso making nine changes to his starting XI, we struggled to get into a rhythm and fell behind midway through the half when Tarik Muharemovic headed home for Leeds.

Alonso introduced Reece James, Pedro Neto, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers at half-time; it was a decisive decision and one that paid off. Yet Leeds did first add to their lead, as Brenden Aaronson fired home two minutes after the restart.

Then came the fightback. Palmer converted a penalty and quickly swept home a second to level the contest. Pedro Neto put us ahead with a fine finish, and Danny Welbeck added our fourth. Dominic Calvert-Lewin gave Leeds brief hope, but Valentin Barco's first Chelsea goal and a late Welbeck second extinguished any comeback.

‘It was thrilling and there were different emotions during the game,' reflected Alonso. 'Things were not going the way we wanted in the first half, and I made those decisions, so I take responsibility and take the blame, not the players.

‘In the second half, we showed a great reaction after conceding the second goal. We kept going, and it was very important to believe and get the crowd excited. They helped us a lot.'

On his quadruple half-time substitution, Alonso added: '[We asked that] they try to have a good impact in energy, in aggressiveness, in tempo, in duels, because we were struggling in that moment against a very intense Leeds. We did very well. I take context for the first half and I will assess my own decisions.

'Even in the first half, I’m not going to blame the attitude. There were many new things together and they were not working – that is my responsibility. Afterward, once you score, you start believing, looking better and making better decisions.

'So it’s about the mind of the players, the feeling and it was much better in the second half.'