The second weekend in April has thrown up one of the Premier League’s most exciting matches in the excavation, with Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United hosting Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
The odd Bielsa has masterminded Leeds’ long-awaited return to top flight, plays an exhausting style of football and makes headlines off the pitch with his various eccentricities.
Matchday vs Manchester City!
⚽️ #LUFC VS #MCFC? | ELLAND-VÄGEN? | 17:30 Bielsa vs Guardiola, in a huge match at home! Who is excited? ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/sieVqHi5K1
– LUFC Vision (@lufcvision) October 3, 2020
The former Argentina boss is a big influencer – and friend – of the Guardiolas. The city manager has had a career with sustained, remarkable success since he changed the pitch to the 2007 excavation and formed teams that have sent football records tumbling across Europe.
But Guardiola might not be the boss he is today if it were not for Bielsa’s influence, giving a potentially exciting 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon at the Etihad Stadium.
The couple met a couple of times during the 2010s in La Liga | LLUIS GENE / Getty Images
It was October 2006 and Pep Guardiola took his first preliminary steps in the lead. On the advice of ex-teammate Gabriel Batistuta, he traveled to visit Batistuta’s former international manager Marcelo Bielsa on his ranch in Argentina.
It was the couple’s first meeting ever. They talked, debated and dissected football, tactics, philosophy and everything in between deep into the morning.
They first met in the excavation in November 2011, as Bielsa’s athletic club were denied all three points against Guardiola’s imperialist Barcelona team thanks to a last – minute Lionel Messi equalizer. It ended a frantic 2-2 thriller by mistake, flashes of brilliance and a red card – almost everything you could wish for from a football game.
Messi equalized during a rain-soaked 2-2 draw in the duo’s first meeting | AFP / Getty Images
One of their most famous encounters was in the 2012 Copa del Rey Final. .
Bilbao lost 3-0.
“You know my side better than I do,” Guardiola pointed out full-time when she was introduced to Bielsa’s comprehensive analysis.
“It was useless,” Bielsa replied.
Their first Premier League meeting was in October, when the exchange was split in a 1-1 draw between Leeds and Man City on Elland Road.
Bielsa has had stints on various domestic and international sites John Early / Getty Images
Bielsa enjoyed a modest playing career compared to Guardiola and played domestic football in his native Argentina – especially for Newell’s Old Boys – in the 70’s, before calling time on his playing day in 1980 at the age of 25 to pursue a coaching career.
The Leeds manager has taken the scenic path to the Premier League. He spent ten years in the Old Boys’ youth system before accepting the top job on his former side. He and his inverted scoop then took various positions at clubs across Argentina and Mexico before the Argentina job came in 1998.
He gained cult status for the work he did with Chile’s national team between 2007 and 2011, completely refreshing the football team, improving the youth system and guiding the country to World Cup qualifiers after an eight-year absence.
His attention to detail and eccentricities has always caught my eye; from the infamous “Spy Gate” during the 2018/19 season, to the fact that he rode with nuns in a convent in 2004. Although his trophy cabinet is relatively bare, he is considered one of the game’s great scientists, senses and characters.
Guardiola won the match with Barcelona | CHRISTOPHE SIMON / Getty Images
Guardiola’s glittering playing career, however, has been matched by his achievements as a manager. As a deep-seated midfielder in his day, he won six La Liga titles as part of Johan Cruyff’s famous Barcelona side in the 1990s before ending his playing career with short spells in Italy, Qatar and Mexico.
Guardiola then created a famous Barcelona side after taking the Camp Nou heat in 2008. He won two Champions League and three La Liga titles as Barcelona tiki-taka-ed into the history of football.
His attention to detail is comparable to Bielsa’s, while his furiously high demands are obvious to anyone who has seen Manchester City’s Amazon Prime documentary. Like Bielsa, he takes a personal, passionate and motivating approach – but has always had much better players at his disposal.
And when it comes to being a serial, meticulous thinker, the couple really compete with each other for that award.
Both Bielsa and Guardiola demand a lot from their players Pool / Getty Images
The similarities in playing style between the couple are often hyped. Leeds have a slightly more chaotic style, with greater emphasis on their high-energy press philosophy and nicely timed overloads.
However, City dominate possession in the last third. They pass teams to death until the players are eventually moved out of position, so that Guardiola’s side can strike back.
Although the style of play in the execution differs, there are similarities in the philosophy; the high defensive line that almost asks to be exploited, the painful slopes and the complex change of position.
Guardiola has exceptionally high standards Pool / Getty Images
Oh, and the working speed ..
Bielsa and Guardiola both demand football that is intense and relentless. Games have been seized, it is 100 miles per hour, a strenuous attack effort. You can easily play a couple of seasons under Bielsa or Guardiola and then happily retire at 25 with the same energy-saving feeling that someone is hanging up their boots at the end of a 20-year career.
