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While Manchester City beat Southampton in dramatic fashion, it was a rather more subdued encounter in the second semi-final at Wembley Stadium.

Fernandez's 23rd-minute effort proved decisive, as the Blues, under the tutelage of interim boss Calum McFarlane since Liam Rosenior's dismissal, booked their place in the showpiece.

The Argentinean's goal came just after Joao Pedro had struck the post, with Chelsea the better team in the first half.

Anton Stach's introduction at half-time helped swing the momentum in Leeds' favour, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who earlier survived a video assistant referee (VAR) check for a potential hair pull, heading straight at Robert Sanchez.

Chelsea's goalkeeper was also in fine form to thwart both Brenden Aaronson and Stach, but Leeds's comeback attempts fell flat.

McFarlane lauded the performance of Fernandez after the Chelsea vice-captain proved to be their FA Cup semi-final hero.

"The most impressive thing about him is that he's a fighter," McFarlane said.

"You don't have to have the perfect game plan in those moments; he will run and compete, and that is often the deciding factor."

Fernandez was recently handed a two-game suspension after comments made about potentially leaving Chelsea.

Leeds struggled to create clear chances going the other way, and boss Daniel Farke suggested his side team could not handle the pressure that came with an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

"There's lots of pressure on my players, and they're also not used to always playing on such a big stage," he said. "You could feel it during the weekend.

"I think the boys were better in the last games, a bit more composed on the ball. Sometimes in the build-up, they were a bit too clumsy or not brave, not playing with too many long balls.

"We were not played off the park, but it was certainly not our very best day."

Leeds has become the first club side to lose four successive matches without scoring at Wembley.

However, Farke feels his squad can use the experience as motivation for the Premier League run-in.

An impressive string of results has Leeds sitting six points clear of the bottom three with four games left to play.

Leeds hosts Burnley next weekend before facing relegation-threatened Tottenham Hotspur, rounding out its season against Brighton and Hove Albion and then West Ham United, which is also in the dogfight.

Farke added: "It's disappointing, but for the players, it's a good experience.

"Going into a big game now, we will have learned from it, and we can then go with a bit more confidence and less nervousness.

"I think this is more than what we take out of it. We had nothing to lose, just a lot to win. [I'm] upset we didn't win, but that's what we have to accept."