Man City boss Pep Guardiola claims he’d relegate Leeds in big compliment to Marcelo Bielsa

Pep Guardiola previews Atletico Madrid clash

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has lauded Marcelo Bielsa by admitting he wouldn’t have been capable of keeping Leeds United in the Premier League. Leeds sacked Bielsa in February amid a dire run of results, but his four-year tenure at the club continued his iconic coaching legacy.

Whilst living in a flat above a corner shop in Wetherby, the 66-year-old masterminded Leeds’ return to the Premier League in 2020 after a 16-year absence. Bielsa then guided the club to a ninth-place finish in their maiden top-flight campaign, whilst Guardiola lifted another league title with Man City.

The Catalan coach will go down in history as one of the greatest of all time following his success at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now at the Etihad Stadium. But he has recently further expressed his admiration for Bielsa after the job he did with limited funding at Leeds.

Guardiola has claimed he would’ve been relegated had he been at the Elland Road helm instead of Bielsa and also believes his dominant Barcelona side would’ve won even more under the latter’s watch. He told Telemundo Sports: “Give Bielsa my Barcelona and see how much [more] he wins. Give me his Leeds side, and we would be in the Championship.”

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In ‘El Loco and Leeds’, a Sky Sports documentary on Bielsa, Guardiola revealed that the Argentine welcomed him to his home near Buenos Aires to offer advice about entering football management. The Man City boss was 35 and still playing at the time, travelling over 5,000 miles to speak to Bielsa, who had left his role as national team head coach two years prior.

“I will never forget how gentle, how kind he was with me when I was absolutely nobody in the world of football in terms of management and how he shared his knowledge,” Guardiola recalled. “We talked about football, but not just football.”

Despite Bielsa’s undeniable impact at Leeds, his successor, Jesse Marsch, has so far made doubters eat their words and has all but guided the Whites to Premier League safety. Marsch’s side are four games unbeaten, winning three of them, including a stunning 3-2 comeback at Wolves.

Bielsa’s tenure ended horrifically, following a run of five defeats in six games, no wins, five goals scored, and 20 conceded. But ‘El Loco’ will always be remembered as the genius who guided the sleeping giants back into the big time, cementing his place in folklore as a Leeds legend.

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