Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United will face Birmingham City on Saturday.
Clotet, who was the assistant manager at Leeds during the 2016-17 campaign under current Birmingham boss Garry Monk, has disclosed that he watched Bielsa conducting training sessions when he was in charge of the Argentina national football team.
The former Oxford United boss made the comments ahead of the Championship game between Birmingham and Leeds at St Andrew’s on Saturday afternoon.
Clotet told Sky Sports about Bielsa: “The first time I saw him and he really impressed me was before the 2002 World Cup. He was holding a camp with the Argentina team near Barcelona where we have the Pro Licence school.
“I remember he was there for two and a half weeks. We had lessons every day, five times a week. I always managed to go early and stay late so I could see all of his sessions.
“I was so impressed with the attention to detail. He was preparing his pressing. For example, the ball that goes from the goalkeeper to the full-back, he was working in great detail on how to press that ball. It was the first time that I saw that level of detail at a really high level.”
Promotion challenge
Bielsa has been superb at Leeds this season, and there is a very good chance that he will guide the West Yorkshire outfit back to the Premier League.
The Whites are second in the Championship table at the moment with 76 points from 39 matches, five points behind leaders Norwich City and two points clear of third-placed Sheffield United.
As for Birmingham, they are only five points above the relegation zone and are in danger of going down to League One at the end of the season.
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