Gruev, who hasn’t scored for the squad since joining from Werder Bremen in the summer, chose the ideal moment to open his scoring, bending in a long-range left-footed goal after the Canaries’ defense had squared up to stop a cross.Daniel Farke’s team scored the first of four goals in Yorkshire to secure their spot in the Championship play-off final.

Soon after, in the first half, Joel Piroe scored, and just before the half, Georgianio Rutter scored his eighth goal of the year to virtually guarantee a trip to Wembley. Crysencio Summerville scored one more to cap off a huge victory for Leeds.

Gruev appeared to have been given a tip on how to catch Norwich off guard because he spoke with Summerville immediately before taking the free kick, and the 22-year-old moved away from the ball and ran to the side of the two-man wall to open up a space for a shot. However, the Bulgarian insisted that it was his quick thinking and not that of his player.

“Yeah it was early in the game and I knew that the goalkeeper was speculating and I thought ‘let’s try to have a shot’,” he stated following the game. “And sure enough, it entered and was fantastic. First and foremost, I want Leeds.”

After speaking briefly with those in the dugout, Gruev responded, “Not really, I look at our assistant coach Eddie [Riermer] and I ask him if it was an outswinger or an inswinger, but then I saw him [the goalkeeper] and tried [to score].” When asked if the bench had encouraged him to go for goal.

Farke received recognition from Riemer and Gruev.”We always analyze our opponents, and the guys on our analysis team deserve special recognition for this, especially my assistant coach who is in charge of it.”