Leeds United travel to one of the world’s best football teams on Saturday, but Liverpool’s Anfield will not be the experience Marcelo Bielsa hoped it would.
The Premier League champions have not lost at home in the league since April 2017 when a Christian Benteke brace secured Crystal Palace all three points in a 2-1 win.
Bielsa knows his side face an uphill task when they travel to Merseyside for Saturday’s 5.30pm kick-off.
“It's a just champion with a consistent style of play,” he said. “Without a doubt it's one of the best teams in the world.”
Bielsa spoke with so little doubt about that fact he even failed to raise any weaknesses when asked directly what he would try to exploit in the season opener.
“I reiterate they are one of the best teams in the world,” he responded. “They have a defined system with very good players.”
Saturday’s match, of course, will be the latest in a series of games at Anfield to be played without a single fan in the stands.
However excited the players may feel about playing inside one of world football’s most historic arenas, the occasion will be lacking.
Bielsa, who was in his 20s during Liverpool’s golden era across the 1970s and 1980s, is well aware of the history and heritage around Anfield.
Asked how he would feel about visiting, he pointed again to the elephant in the room.
“We are going to play at Anfield, but Anfield is only Anfield if it is full.”
Like Bielsa, Jurgen Klopp has delivered domestic success for his club after a very long wait for the fans.
While the Whites faithful waited 16 years to return to the Premier League, the Reds had waited 30 years for their next top-flight trophy.
Bielsa rejected the chance to lavish further praise on Klopp for fear of repeating many of the, correct, positive things said about the German.
“With the work Klopp has done everywhere he has worked, it has given him the chance to shine in every league that he has been in,” said Bielsa.
“Anything I were to add would just be repeating the praise he has already rightly received.”
