Southampton

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Former Southampton full back Francis Benali says Sunday's Championship play-off final "was just the most incredible day" for Saints fans.

Benali, who made 373 appearances for the club during his 16-year spell, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "When the whistle went at full-time, I completely burst into tears with the emotion of it all. What an occasion!

"Our defending was outstanding and as a team we really limited Leeds United to very few chances. We managed to find that edge to get the result.

"Adam Armstrong has had an absolutely brilliant season too, so it was fitting that it was him who scored the winning goal. It was just the most incredible day."

Southampton have returned to the top flight at the first time of asking, but Benali says the club and Russell Martin will need to build on this team if they want to have a successful campaign.

"Once the celebrations and emotions of Sunday have settled, the board will be turning their minds to a Premier League season and how they will go about securing status in it and not being relegated again," he added.

"We saw this season how tough it is for those promoted teams so there is work to be done."

Will Saints stay up? Make your selection here

Southampton made an immediate return to the Premier League with a 1-0 victory over Leeds United in the Championship play-off final on Sunday.

Here are some of the best pictures from a memorable day for the Saints at Wembley.

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Former Wycombe Wanderers and QPR manager Gareth Ainsworth praised Russell Martin for his "tactical masterclass" against Leeds United in the Championship play-off final.

"Southampton epitomised the calmness that Martin has and they stayed solid and in shape for the whole game," said Ainsworth to BBC Radio 5 Live's 72+ podcast. "They knew that when they got their opportunities they could take them and they did.

"Adam Armstrong is a serial goalscorer this season and he had three seconds of space to convert - he does not even need one! Then they held on when Leeds came at them with Martin going to a five at the back, which was a tactical masterclass. That soaked up every little bit of pressure Leeds then gave them.

"Southampton were fantastic. It was a clinical job and Martin deserves his stint in the Premier League."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

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It seems the good news keeps coming for Southampton, with BBC Sport's Simon Stone reporting Saints’ loan deal for Taylor Harwood-Bellis now turns into a £20m permanent move from Manchester City as a result of this win.

The 22-year-old defender joined Russell Martin's side in September and has featured 46 times for the Premier League-bound club.

Harwood-Bellis told Sky Sports:

"I'm over the moon. It had a massive edge to it knowing that I'm staying here permanently [from Manchester City, his current parent club].

"I love the club - it's a special football club and the fans are amazing.

"They stuck with us through some tough times, and really good times as well. But we did it for them today.

"I can't describe how I feel about this year."

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Southampton boss Russell Martin speaking to Sky Sports:

"I feel really emotional and overwhelmed by the support I have had over the last nine or 10 months, especially in the tough times.

"For them to give me the job in the first place, I felt like I had to do this to justify and validate it so I'm so pleased for them because it wasn't an exciting appointment for them, I finished 10th at Swansea and had a really clear way of doing things at MK [Dons], and now here.

"So to take me on was really brave. The team have been so great and I'm really grateful and proud of them.

"It's not about me now, it's about them, I really believe that.

"They were trying to drag me up there [to lift the trophy] but they deserve it."

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Match-winning goal scorer Adam Armstrong told Sky Sports:

"I don't know what to say. It's what we've been working for all year, we know how good the Championship has been this year.

"What a way to go up! I saw the space in behind [for the goal] and I knew if I put it across goal it was going to go in, so it was a nice one.

"It means everything. The gaffer and his staff came in in pre-season and put a marker down of what they wanted to see, and look at this.

"This is why we're footballers, we want to be involved in the biggest games, what a way to win."

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Southampton captain Jack Stephens speaking to Sky Sports:

"I'm so proud to be captain of this club. I'm so proud of the boys today, I think they've been unbelievable.

"I think we probably didn't play our best game today but we showed a different side.

"A few people have doubted us over this season. Can we defend? Can we dig in? I think we really showed that today.

"The feeling I've got now is the best feeling I've ever had in football. Honestly, I'm just so emotional."

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Jo Tessem, ex-Southampton midfielder, speaking on BBC Radio Solent:

"We won it. That is all that counts.

"We didn't care about possession; the clean sheet is everything, the first goal is everything. We got it!

"Unbelievable scenes!"

Ian Woodcock, BBC Sport at Wembley:

"Southampton's players and fans go crazy!

"They were the better team today and they'll be in the Premier League next season.

"Leeds players slump to the ground and their fans start to slowly make their way to the exits.

"The fans certainly turned up today but too many players for the Whites simply didn't."

Southampton beat Leeds in the Championship play-off final to secure an immediate return to the Premier League and the £140m to go with it.

Adam Armstrong scored the decisive goal with a clinical finish after being put clear by Will Smallbone.

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Team news for the Championship play-off final between Leeds United and Southampton is out, with less than an hour to go before kick-off at Wembley.

Follow our live text coverage here

Leeds United and Southampton meet at Wembley on Sunday in the Championship play-off final, hoping to bounce straight back to the Premier League.

Former Leeds midfielder Michael Brown tells The Football News Show why his old side will be favourites and why he feels they would be better placed to succeed in the top flight next season.

Watch The Football News Show on BBC iPlayer

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The Championship play-off final is just two days away, but will it be Southampton or Leeds that return to the Premier League?

Former Great Britain athlete Roger Black and Ryan Wilson from The Pigeon Detectives have been previewing the Wembley final on BBC Radio 5 Live.

"We are all nervous," said Saints fan Black. "It is a real 50-50 game.

"Sport is not about stats, as much as people love to go on about them, it is about what happens when it really matters.

"This game on Sunday matters and the stakes are high. It is about which team and players turn up on the day and deliver.

"There is not a second chance, so that makes it scary for Saints fans'."

The idea of stats from the 2023-24 campaign no longer being relevant is shared by Whites fan Wilson.

"I am probably more nervous than excited," he said.

"It is a clean slate going into this game and it is two very good teams with a lot of talent.

"It will be down to who shows up on the day, physically and mentally and anything could happen. It is like a toss of a coin.

"Southampton did the double over us [in the league] but I do not think any of that should be taken into account too much.

"It is such a big occasion with two very good teams going at each other."

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Southampton chairman Henrik Kraft spoke to BBC Radio Solent before the club's Championship play-off final with Leeds on Sunday: "It's a mixture of excitement and nerves, probably in equal measure. It's been an exciting week, but also a long week in the build up to it.

"This season has been really positive, and you can feel the progress on and off the pitch in the club. It's culminating in a very exciting moment. There's been some amazing highs and lows this season with last-minute winners and last-minute heartbreaks. Overall, it's been a lot of fun.

"There's been huge amounts of change in the organisation, and you can underestimate how difficult it was to go through what we did. Nearly all of the senior leadership, on the football and non-football side, are new or are in new positions. It's been a huge amount of work.

"I think it's really exciting, there's so much potential in the club and in the city. I'm looking forward to all the things we're going to see happening."

On Russell Martin's future: "Him and his whole coaching team have done a great job. They've really galvanised everyone around them and implemented a new playing style. We want to build on this and Russell is very involved with the preparations for next season."

Listen to the full interview here on BBC sounds

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Manager Russell Martin hopes his play-off experience as a player will help guide Southampton to victory against Leeds on Sunday.

Martin achieved play-off victory with Norwich in 2015 and will be hoping to replicate that glory as a manager in the match at Wembley.

"I try not to talk about my career too much because it was really average, but it's such a privilege to play in a game of this magnitude," Martin said in a news conference.

"You can go your whole career as a player not playing in a game like this. I feel grateful to be in this position at 38 years-old at a club like this to be leading a team out at Wembley.

"It's important to accept every feeling you have. Someone who wakes up and says they aren't nervous on the day isn't honest, especially for a game like this. The way we ask the players to play, there is a level of courage that that requires. I have no worry about them being honest with each other about what they're feeling.

"I woke up on the day feeling calmer than I had done all week in the build up [to Norwich's play-off final], but still nervous. I had a calmness because of the work we did in the build up, and I hope our players will feel the same way."

Similarly to Southampton, Norwich had been relegated the year before they won the play-off when Martin was at the club: "I felt the relegation so personally, it hurt so much. It affects your life in so many different ways when you take pride in what you do. A lot of players here were part of that last season so they have such a chance to feel the complete opposite and feel something that they will remember forever and have feelings about."

On Southampton's double over Leeds in the league season, Martin added: "I won the final having lost to the team twice, so it can also motivate the opposition for sure. We have to make sure that we use it as an advantage and we make sure we use that in our favour."

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Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's 72+ podcast, former Reading midfielder Jobi McAnuff said of the prospect of playing at Wembley: "Particularly for a Championship final in terms of 80-odd thousand people, Wembley cut in half, your fans on one side of it and theirs on the other - it's just the scale of it.

"We're fortunate enough to go there and watch games and it just takes your breath away. It doesn't matter how many times you have done it or what capacity you are in, you just know you are the one out there who has to go and perform.

"It's all about how quickly you can start and how quick you can settle. Then you can go and play the game rather than letting everything around you distract you, which it can do. We saw over the weekend it happen with Bolton and it can be quite a daunting place at times."

Ex-Bolton defender and current manager of Kidderminster Harriers Phil Brown added: "Even when you have gone into the stadium or the same size of stadium, when you are a captain you are walking along and introducing your team-mates you sometimes forget their names.

"If you're a manager you are stood next to all that heat that comes bursting out with flames and all your thinking is to try to get the first thing you do be a positive thing for your club or for your game or team that day, and if it comes off it can win a game."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

The key facts and figures before the Championship play-off final between Leeds United and Southampton on Sunday (15:00 BST kick-off).

• Southampton were the only team to do the league double over Leeds United this season with the second of those wins coming on the final day at Elland Road (2-1).

• This is the third second tier play-off final between two teams that were relegated in the previous campaign after Leicester City 2-1 Crystal Palace in 1995-96 and West Ham 2-1 Blackpool in 2011-12.

• Southampton will play in their first play-off final with this just their second ever play-off campaign, after a semi-final exit on penalties to Derby County in 2007. The Saints last won promotion to the Premier League in 2011-12 when finishing as Championship runners-up.

• Leeds have lost on their last two outings at Wembley Stadium, most recently in the 2008 League One play-off final to Doncaster Rovers (0-1) - their only previous play-off game at the national stadium. The Whites’ last win at the venue came in the 1992 Community Shield against Liverpool, winning 4-3 with Eric Cantona scoring a hat-trick.

• Including the play-offs, Southampton have averaged the highest share of possession (66%) across England’s top four tiers this season whilst only Manchester City (691 and 24) have recorded more passes and more sequences of 10+ passes per game than the Saints (663 and 22) in 2023-24.

• Leeds United boss Daniel Farke is aiming to become the third manager to win promotion to the Premier League three times after Steve Bruce (4) and Neil Warnock (3), following his two title winning seasons with Norwich City in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

• Leeds and Southampton have met 100 times previously with the Whites holding 48 wins to the Saints’ 30 victories (D22). Of the 19 opponents Leeds have played 100+ times, their win-rate against Southampton is their greatest (48%).

• Leeds have reached a play-off final for the fourth time, failing to win promotion in each of the previous three (1986-87, 2005-06, 2007-08). It is the joint-most play-off finals any team has played in without a win (level with Bristol City, Exeter City, Lincoln City and Shrewsbury Town).

Adam Blackmore
BBC Radio Solent sports editor

Our BBC Radio Solent team - who you'll no doubt be following on the Goin' Home with Adam and Jo podcast - are considering their points of hope and worry before the play-off final against Leeds.

Blackmore's hope

What gives me hope is that Saints have beaten Leeds twice this season, so they go into the game knowing they can win. They have steeled themselves since the end of April and I feel there is a toughness and determination to them currently which means they won’t lose their heads at Wembley.

Blackmore's worry

Simply the talent at Leeds' disposal and the occasion. If Gnonto and Summerville thrive in the atmosphere of a full house at Wembley they’ll be tough to slow down.

You can listen to a special episode of the Goin' Home with Adam and Jo Podcast including interviews with Jack Stephens and Adam Armstrong, as well as BBC Radio Leeds' Commentator Adam Pope on BBC Radio Solent tonight from 18:00 BST.