Slaven Bilic and Marcelo Bielsa locked each other in a longing embrace either side of their New Year’s Day clash. It is not the sort of endearment the latter always shows his contemporaries.
Always there are pleasant handshakes, maybe a hand on the elbow and some broken speech, but it was different with the Croatian at The Hawthorns.
Bilic is of course coaching the team running Bielsa’s Leeds United closest in the Championship after 26 matches and with that achievement must come mutual respect. They are the pair with a clear gap in class over the rest. It’s their own club above that dotted promotion line.
Bilic backs himself, knows he is confident with good reason, but could not hide the pride he takes in the reciprocation he gets from Bielsa.
“I am very proud of that, to be fair,” he said after full-time.
“Look, I rate myself of course and I am quite a confident guy, but Bielsa is Bielsa.
“For me it’s also a privilege to compete with him, to be in the same league [as him], I mean the clubs are in the same league, [to] talk with him, to talk football to him and especially when you feel it is both ways.
“I have his books, of course. Who doesn’t? He’s an unbelievable guy and it’s great to have him in the league.”
If they meet again this season both will know they have not lived up to their own expectations of each other.
