Marcelo Bielsa has been speaking to the media ahead of Leeds’ trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday, and he’s spoken of his admiration for one Eagles man.
When asked how much he respects Roy Hodgson, Leeds Live quote the Argentine as saying: ‘I sincerely respect him a lot. I’m not the best person to have an opinion as I have only been here two years but I have the opinion that he’s a very valued member in the English community.’
It is nice to see one hugely influential figure in the football management world speak so fondly of another well-travelled figure.
Hodgson has worked all over the world. The 73-year-old has held the reins at Inter Milan, Malmo and Copenhagen, as well as the Finland and Switzerland national teams to name a few.
In total, the Eagles boss has had 22 different managerial jobs throughout his career – the Croydon Advertiser even state that he speaks six different languages!
In Bielsa’s case, he is also an experienced manager who a coach of Pep Guardiola’s stature has described as the person he admires most in football, both as a coach and a person as the BBC report.
The 65-year-old has also managed in numerous countries. He has previously coached the Chile national team, as well as Athletic Bilbao, Lazio and Marseille.
Both Leeds and Palace sit level on ten points for the season.
In that respect, it will be interesting to see which of these well-respected coaches gets the better of the other this weekend.
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