Norwich City: Defining Daniel Farke moment came at Leeds United's expense | OneFootball

When Norwich City travelled to Elland Road in their 2018/19 title winning campaign it would prove to be a defining moment for Head Coach Daniel Farke.

Amongst a plethora of last minute winners, late comebacks and an Ipswich Town dismantling, Daniel Farke's defining moment in the 2018/19 Championship title winning season for Norwich City came at Elland Road.

Few games have carried so much buzz around them. In the midst of 'spygate' and a race to the top of the league, Farke would truly stamp his name on English football with a 3-1 win over Leeds United at Elland Road.

Leeds v Norwich: The build-up

In the reverse fixture earlier in the season, Leeds would embarrass 3-0 at Carrow Road. The result saw the Canaries fall to 17th in the Championship, with talk of the pink away dressing room making them a laughingstock.

Cut to months later and Farke had reinvigorated Carrow Road, Teemu Pukki was scoring goals for fun and Norwich were just one place behind Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds.

Bielsa had also found himself in hot water when a member of his staff had been caught outside Derby County's training ground accused of spying on the opposition. A media frenzy would ensue. Espionage and the Championship were never previously thought to have crossed paths.

Understandably, eleven Championship clubs had questions and wanted answers. One of those was Norwich City.

Bielsa would also exert his mind-games on the Norwich coach, naming his squad two days before the sides would meet.

But Farke remained his cool unflappable self and dismissed that 'spygate' and the early team announcement would give the West Yorkshire outfit a leg-up against his Canaries side. He said: "You know even two days before a game what the style is, what their players are doing".

Norwich's probes into Leeds' behaviour, their relative places in the league and the general fiery passion of Leeds fans would culminate in #WelcomeNorwich. Some Leeds fans would make it known that they were after blood when the Canaries would visit. Police had upped security and the Norwich boss would take his team through the side entrance to jeers and sneers from the Leeds faithful.

It culminated in a "spicy" atmosphere as the two sides walked onto the pitch and the spotlight shone on Elland Road for a Norwich City Championship encounter for the ages.

The game: Norwich thump Leeds

Within 5 minutes, Mario Vrancic would silence the Leeds crowd with a free kick. Leeds would pile on the pressure with nearly 35,000 voices urging them forward, but Norwich would soak it straight back up.

A Tim Krul near sending off would do nothing to settle the atmosphere, but less than ten minutes later Teemu Pukki latched on to a loose ball to make it 2-0.

Leeds would not go quietly and back they came, again and again, but to no avail. The referee's whistle bought the end to a half Leeds had tried to dominate, but City had enacted the perfect game-plan.

The second half was some of the best game management of Farke's career. Tom Trybull had perhaps his best game in a Norwich shirt, winning 70% of his duels and, importantly, winning the midfield battle a number of times.

Mario Vrancic would double his tally to make it 3-0 in the 78th minute, equaling Leeds' Carrow Road result earlier in the season but for a consolation Patrick Bamford goal in the closing stages.

It's one of the few games in the latter stages of that season that Norwich had lost the possession battle, but it encapsulates the entire occasion as a whole. Norwich had to soak it all up on the pitch and off it, but in the end they would come out on top and Leeds had fallen apart, again.

The aftermath: Belief Norwich could win the league

Then Sporting Director Stuart Webber later admitted that was the game where he believed Norwich would win the league.

Before the game, Webber felt "unbelievably confident" due to the training sessions prior to the game. He said, via YouTube: "It's the best session I've seen this group have."

Todd Cantwell would echo similar sentiments of the Leeds game saying the "hostile" atmosphere had given the players an extra hunger for the three points.

In his post-match interview, Farke said: "When you’re able to deliver such a result in a spotlight game in a spicy atmosphere with such a performance, you’re unbelievably happy."

Farke's relationship with Elland Road is now a complicated one. A Norwich visit to Elland Road would be one of the heights of the Webber era, and now he frequents their dugout every other week. It's fitting that he would be there at the de facto end of the Webber era too, succumbing David Wagner to the same fate he met at Norwich in the play-offs last season.

It had been a whirlwind season, but Leeds away will live long in the memories of Norwich fans. It thrust Farke into the limelight, outclassing a fired-up Bielsa-charged Leeds to move into the automatic promotion places made it all the more sweet. Despite being months away from the end of the season, it put Norwich firmly in the conversation for title-winners and Farke had shown what his side were capable of.