Pontus Jansson’s message ahead of Leeds United’s game against Derby County

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Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United will face Derby County in the Championship on Saturday.

Leeds United narrowly missed out on automatic promotion to the Premier League, but the West Yorkshire outfit do not have much time to dwell on their disappointment.

The Whites will take on Derby County in the two-legged Championship playoff semi-final tie.

If the West Yorkshire outfit are able to get the better of Derby, then they will face either Aston Villa or West Bromwich Albion in the playoff final for a place in the Premier League next season.

The first leg of the tie between Leeds and Derby is at the Pride Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Earlier in the season, the Whites and the Rams were involved in the ‘Spygate’ scandal, where it was uncovered that Leeds head coach Marcelo Bielsa had been sending someone to watch training sessions of not only Derby, but all the teams in the Championship.

Ahead of this evening’s tie, Pontus Jansson has sent a rallying cry to his Leeds teammates, underlining what is at stake.

The Sweden international central defender is an important player for the Whites, and has been on the books of the Championship club since 2016 when he joined on loan from Torino before making the deal permanent for a transfer fee reported by The Express to be worth £3.5 million.

Jansson told Leeds’s official website: “We are looking forward to the play-offs, we can’t feel sad that we have lost out on automatic promotion and we have to use it as motivation.

“People who have been in the play-offs before say that Wembley and going up through the play-offs is amazing- It is a harder way, but if you can go that way, it is just unbelievable.”

The defender added: “They hate us and we hate them, that is how we go into the game, it will be nice for the spectators to see two good football teams.”

Jansson added in The Mirror: “I feel a little bit guilty about all those Leeds supporters because this has been the year from day one to go to the Premier League. This is the year we have to go to the Premier League.

“That’s how we talk and how the fans talk and we were so close. I feel a bit guilty. If we don’t do it, I will be sad for a couple of months so in my head we just have to do it, that’s the only thing in my head.”