Leeds striker Patrick Bamford has been ruled out of both legs of his side’s Championship play-off semi-final against Norwich.

Bamford missed Leeds’ last two games of the regular season due to a knee injury and his absence for Sunday’s first leg at Carrow Road and the return at Elland Road next Thursday is a big blow for Daniel Farke’s side.

Leeds were initially at a loss as to what exactly the one0-time Norwich loan player's problem is, but a visit to a consultant has revealed patella tendon damage.

Farke said: “Patrick will definitely miss both legs of the semi-final. He’s seen a different knee consultant and the new diagnosis is a mini trauma of the patellar tendon.

“We were not aware of this before and it was surprise he missed the last two games because the initial diagnosis was just a bruise.

“But it’s a minor patella tendon trauma and for that he definitely needs a couple of weeks in order to recover and he will definitely miss both legs of the semi-final.”

Better news for Farke is that he is hopeful Daniel James can return to contention after he sustained rib and abdominal injuries in the recent win at Middlesbrough.

James also missed the 4-0 defeat at QPR in Leeds’ penultimate game of the regular season and the last-day home defeat to Southampton.

“Daniel James is making good progress,” Farke added. “He’s coming closer and closer, and has joined in parts of team training.

“It will be a tight race, but he has a chance of being available. It depends on the next 48 hours, but he’s much-improved and it could be that he’s an option.

“I’m not sure he is ready for 90 minutes, but he’s an option for the travelling squad.”

Leeds had been strong challengers for automatic promotion before losing four of their remaining six games and became the first Championship side since Sunderland in 1998 to finish on 90 points and not go straight up.

Farke insisted his players can recover their shaken confidence in time for the trip to Norfolk and that they had previously proved up to the challenge of “spotlight” matches throughout the season.

“We are not experienced, but I would not change one player,” the German added. “We have spoken about the the winning mentality that I think we have.

“It always felt during the whole season, when there is a special occasion, we were there.

“When there were spotlight games, we won two times against Leicester and we won two times against Ipswich.

“Yes, more consistency on other days would have been great, but with 90 points you can’t speak too much about lack of consistency.”