Leeds United defender Diego Llorente has given an insight into what makes former Whites boss Marcelo Bielsa so special while away on international duty with Spain.
Llorente joined Leeds in September 2020 from Real Sociedad, in part to work with Bielsa who was manager at the time.
Under the Argentine, who is fondly remembered at Elland Road, Leeds won the Championship and finished their first season back in the Premier League in ninth place which was an astonishing achievement given how long they had spent in the Football League wilderness.
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Bielsa and co earned plenty of plaudits from across the country for their never say die attitude and battling spirit that saw them try to take the game to every opponent, even if they were sometimes outmatched in the firepower department.
However, the 66-year-olds time at Leeds came to an end a season later. He was sacked in February of this year following a dismal 4-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Elland Road, being replaced by Jesse Marsch.
Leeds' Premier League survival came down to the final day of the season, with the Whites staying up after they beat Brentford 2-1 away.
And while Bielsa's tenure at Leeds is now in the rearview mirror, Llorente recalled plenty of details in a recent interview with Spanish newspaper SPORT about what made the legendary coach special.
"He is a very special coach," Llorente told SPORT. "I will not have nor have I had anyone like him. He works in a special way. You see that he is very analytical, that the exercises make sense, that the mechanisms that are automated by repetition and then in the field are instinctive.
"At the hobby level, he is someone who shows a lot of intelligence. He says everything for a reason and leaves a mark."
