“Marcelo Bielsa ordered Leeds United players to allow Aston Villa equalize goal in dramatic scenes at Elland Road after spotting his side leading with a controversial goal”
Winning is an objective for every athlete, coach, and sports club. The temptation of winning has risen following the industrialization of sport, especially in football. Some do anything to win a match, even using the dirty trick, but for Marcelo Bielsa, this kind of stuff is prohibited. The Argentinian man always warns his squad to play with honor. There is no diving or any other dirty trick on his leadership; he also brought his principle when he was appointed as Leeds United manager in 2018.
In Leeds United, Bielsa is adored not only for having the White return into the Premier League but also for his sportsmanship. He has become the symbol of honesty, fairness, and integrity in Leeds society. One of his noteworthy moments came from the decisive Championship match against Aston Villa. He let the opponent scoring goal after spotting his side lead with a controversial goal. This gesture did not end well for his side since they failed to win the match and failed to promote to the Premier League 2019/20 campaign. However, the Bielsa side’s positive gesture may change the stigma of “dirty Leeds” that they earned in the 1970' under Don Revie managerial that stuck with them ever since. After the match, Bielsa said, as quoted: “what happened, happened and we behaved as we behaved.”
In his principle, winning must be earned with honor. To achieve that, Bielsa makes Leeds United the most hard-working football team in British football by high-intensity training for their players. As a result of the training, his player’s endurance has increased drastically and supports the high pressing football that Bielsa is always loyal with. Bielsa also forced his player to clean the plastic waste in the stadium after the game to make their player aware of how many supporters came to the stadium to support them.
Jose Mourinho had a massive influence on the premier league with the ultra-defensive approach. He often uses it when his team leads, even though it makes the game boring and less entertaining. That time was remembered as the day pragmatic football won. Unlike Mourinho’s philosophy, Bielsa came with high pressing attacking football that has entertained supporters. They will stick with the attacking strategy even when they were already leading. A real example is when Leeds United lead 4–1 against Fulham on 19/9; they were still offensive; thus, they concealed two goals, and the final score was 4–3. This match shows that Bielsa wants Leeds United to be entertaining even if they need to sacrifice efficiency.
The spy game has become part of football preparation from a long-long time ago, and any rule in British football has not prohibited spy. However, when his spies preparation has blown up and become controversial, Bielsa even provides every data they have as a public domain. He accepted the FA’s decision and insisted on paying the fine with his own money instead of his club. He has also urged the importance of sharing the information to the public in the ground of fairness.
As far today, sports figures have become the role model for the young generation, Leeds United will offer more than just football, but also the essences of honesty and integrity. In any circumstance, Bielsa’s side will always have a special place in British football history.