Let’s take you back down memory lane when Manchester United were still managed by Sir Alex Ferguson and Marcelo Bielsa, long before his stint as Leeds United boss, was at the helm of Athletic Bilbao.
The Basque side and the Premier League giants faced each other in the Europa League’s last 16, and the Argentine manager got the better of his Scottish counterpart, eliminating the Red Devils from the competition.
This all took place in 2012, and one of the players who played in both those fixtures was Óscar De Marcos, who is still at Bilbao to this day.
Speaking in a virtual press conference where he answered fans and journalists alike, the right-back was asked about those two games against Manchester United.
He said, relayed by Deia: “Eliminating them made us believe we were important players. It was a night I don’t think the players or the fans who lived through it will forget.
No one thought about the return leg (they won 3-2 at Old Trafford, a game in which he scored, before winning again 2-1 at home) and we enjoyed it like there was no tomorrow. Manchester was one of the most beautiful memories in the world of football”.
A lot of it came down to the type of football they played, masterminded by the aforementioned Bielsa, now in charge at Elland Road.
For De Marcos, the Leeds manager is among the best, admitting he places him ‘on a pedestal’, and he learned ‘many values, many things in life and small gestures’ as well as being helped on the football pitch, where he maintains the Argentine played him in the role that ‘best suited his characteristics’.
It’s fair to say the Spaniard has a lot to thank Bielsa for, and he took time to do so during this virtual press conference.
