Tarik Muharemovic opened the scoring for Leeds after 23 minutes in a half dominated by the away side.

Blues boss Xabi Alonso responded with a quadruple change at half-time with Morgan Rogers brought on for Malo Gusto, Reece James on for Reggie Watson, Cole Palmer for James Gittens and Pedro Neto for Estavao Willian.

The changes took time to take effect as Brenden Aaronson gave Leeds a two-goal lead with his strike three minutes after the half-time break.

But Chelsea were back in the tie through a Palmer penalty, before the same player levelled with a Rogers assisted goal with 55 minutes on the clock.

Neto was next to find the net with his strike on the hour mark, and Danny Welbeck handed the Blues a two-goal cushion with his Rogers assisted effort just five minutes later.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke made four changes of his own, with Anton Stach on for Daniel James and Dominic Calvert-Lewin on for Lukas Nmecha, as Ao Tanaka replaced Sean Longstaff and Moah Okafor took over from Aaronson.

Calvert-Lewin pulled a goal back with 15 minutes of the match to play, but Valentin Barco was next to score for the Blues after 80 minutes, and any hopes of a late comeback ended with Welbeck's second effort of the night, in the 94th minute of the match.

Speaking after the match, Alonso said he had made it "hard" for his players in the first half.

"I need to take my own blame and my own responsibility on the things that happen," he said on BBC Sport. "I need to be able to help them better so they are not responsible, and after you need to react and think what's better for the team."

Leeds manager Daniel Farke told his club's website: "Yes, a bit of a crazy game. A bit unlike us to concede so many goals.

"This is what happens when you rotate so much and it's a bit of a risk like this, but I think overall, we were in full control after 60 minutes, scored the 2-0, and had everything under control. And then, Chelsea scored without having a chance.

"This small detail, of course, changed the momentum because we were in full control, so the stadium was quiet.

"A few players needed to get the chance today, and a few players need also a bit of rest, and for that we took the risk to be not flawless today.

"Also, when I judge a game in total, we had slightly more possession than Chelsea, exactly the same amount of expected goals, even more shots, anyhow. I think performance-wise we could take many, many positives from it."