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The cliché is that you should never meet your heroes. Pep Guardiola could not beat one of his idols. Marcelo Bielsa made it more difficult for one of his protégés to regain the Premier League title. However, even Guardiola ended up smiling, hugging Bielsa in gratitude for a wonderful match. Leeds beat Manchester City in the second half, playing with the verve that Guardiola admires. “An incredible team, a fantastic team,” he said, and he was talking about Leeds. They claimed one point and it could have been three: substitute Rodrigo made something of a hat-trick, hitting the wood twice and scoring his first goal for Leeds in a comeback that was testament to his energy.
“We did our part to make the game beautiful,” Bielsa said. But Guardiola admires him for his authenticity and honesty and Bielsa admitted: “It would not have been fair if we had won this match.” Guardiola agreed. “Fair result,” he said. Bielsa asked for his post-match verdict and the Catalan replied: “I said I can’t analyze the match after a second, I can’t process it.”
In fact, there was too much to process. It was a fantastic sight, but exhausting. There were 35 shots in total, and although City had 23 of them, it was a game of two halves, each made up of management input. Bielsa finally turned the game around. He brought in Ian Poveda, one of the select groups that have played for both sides of a mutual admiration society of administrators, in a characteristic halftime switch. The catalytic change, however, was when he summoned Rodrigo.
The Leeds club’s record purchase had gotten off to an unfavorable start, conceding a penalty to Anfield winner Mohamed Salah on his debut and being a substitute who was in turn substituted last week at Bramall Lane. This time he had the proper impact from the bench. His upward shot was deflected towards the crossbar and, as Kalvin Phillips took the next corner, Ederson spilled it and Rodrigo scored his first Premier League goal in nine years and 272 days. “A long time ago,” said the former Bolton borrower. “Time flies.”
Buying £ 27 million from Valencia nearly doubled his Leeds account, Ederson put together a form of redemption by dumping Rodrigo’s header on the bar. “He’s starting to show the great quality that he has,” Bielsa said.
If Rodrigo’s signing had prompted Patrick Bamford to score goals, it was a sign that they can coexist. The Spanish international – Leeds has as many players as Barcelona in Spain’s squad – acted as a dynamic and aggressive midfielder. Ederson denied Bamford himself a late winner and to focus on the goalie mistake would be to ignore a series of good saves. That two of the efforts he thwarted, by Stuart Dallas and Luke Ayling, came from the forays off the Bielsa sides showed just how ambitious his plan was.
It was also poorly reflected on City wingers Kyle Walker and a sloppy Benjamin Mendy. On the day Guardiola unveiled the most expensive central defense association in English football history, with £ 57 million Aymeric Laporte as the cheapest partner to £ 60 million newcomer Rúben Dias, City were still struggling for solidity. Guardiola’s eventual defensive change, to bring in Fernandinho, gave City a platform to go for a decider. “A very smart substitution,” Bielsa said.
Dias had almost scored his debut with a goal, a corner header from Riyad Mahrez. It came as goal attempts continued in flurries: Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne at first, Laporte, then Bamford, then Phil Foden later. But City were initially the strongest, as Bielsa admitted: “At the beginning, City’s dominance in all aspects was very clear.”
“When you have the opportunities that we had in 24 minutes, the game must end,” Guardiola said. His team almost hit in the third minute. When De Bruyne hit a free kick against the near post, leaving Illan Meslier, waiting for a cross, scratching his area, there were shadows of Gary McAllister for Liverpool against Everton in 2001. Perhaps Guardiola had seen something in the goalkeeper. positioning, perhaps De Bruyne did.
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But the city manager certainly deserves credit for reviving an old tactic. He had used a false left-handed 9 in each of his three previous encounters with Bielsa, and if supporting Mahrez with Lionel Messi is unfair, the central role of the Algerian allowed Guardiola to return Sterling to the left.
He got a dividend for that decision. After Leeds captain Liam Cooper gave the ball away, Sterling latched on to a pass from Ferran Torres, cut the frame and found the bottom corner of Leeds’ net. His power had nearly brought the breakthrough a minute earlier – he misled Ayling with a series of spins and found Mahrez, whose effort was brilliantly cleared off the line by Dallas. Then Guardiola was the most influential coach. Later it was Bielsa.
