Soccer: O’Leary expected Champions League disappointment

Leeds boss David O’Leary quickly came to terms with missing out on Champions League football next season and set his sights on winning the Premiership title instead.

O’Leary’s side emerged 3-1 winners from their final game against Leicester at Elland Road this afternoon.

An Alan Smith brace and a superbly-executed free-kick from Ian Harte gave them the win they required but, as they trooped off the field, news of Liverpool’s 4-0 win at Charlton filtered through to end their hopes of gracing Europe’s top competition next season.

‘‘I came into the game with a feeling of disappointment anyway,’’ said O’Leary. ‘‘I believed that Liverpool would win the game.

‘‘If we look back to January and what we were planning and hoping for then I always felt it would be difficult to get into the top three.

‘‘Even at that stage, when I looked at the fixture list I felt that if we got to the semi-finals of the Champions League, we were likely to be undone at Arsenal.’’

The Elland Road outfit suffered a 2-0 defeat at Highbury and that reverse coupled with a controversial home draw with Manchester United when Leeds were denied a winning own-goal from Wes Brown by a linesman’s flag contributed to an eventual fourth-placed finish.

‘‘Those two points have cost us,’’ admitted O’Leary. ‘‘One man’s decision has made a big difference to us.’’

Smith is expected to receive an England call from Sven-Goran Eriksson for the friendly against Mexico at Pride Park next week.

And after his controversial dismissal against Valencia two weeks ago, the Leeds-born star answered his critics in the right manner today.

He opened the scoring after 28 minutes when he benefited from Callum Davidson’s attempted clearance which deflected in off his shin.

Smith then bagged a late third, calmly slotting under the advancing Tim Flowers after running onto a Mark Viduka through ball.

A bizarre Rio Ferdinand own-goal had brought the Foxes level in the opening period and the game seemed destined to finish in a draw until Harte’s superb curling free-kick in the 78th minute.

‘‘It was a win we deserved,’’ said O’Leary. ‘‘We got a little bit bogged down when we went a goal up and gave a sloppy goal away. But we hit the woodwork a few times and I thought eventually we would wear them down.’’

Leicester boss Peter Taylor, whose side suffered their ninth defeat in 10 Premiership outings, admitted it had been a frustrating first season at Filbert Street.

He said: ‘‘We seemed to get to 45 points very quickly and that seems like a long time ago now. All of a sudden it started to go wrong. I think a lot of it stems from our defeat to Wycombe in the Cup.

‘‘We have lacked confidence since then and a few injuries to our top players have not helped.

‘‘Hopefully when we come back for training on July 9 I will have the likes of Muzzy Izzet, Matt Elliott and Gerry Taggert will be fit. They are major players for this club.’’