Leeds United v Manchester City - Marcelo Bielsa and Pep Guardiola collide at Elland Road

Two great strategists will be pitting their wits against each other in the footballing equivalent of a game of chess between a couple of grandmasters and it is for occasions like this that Marcelo Bielsa and Pep Guardiola get up in the morning and go to work.

It is nothing to do with money, despite the fact that both are handsomely paid.

Like chess, football can be unpredictable and nuanced – and dramatic at times.

La Liga was the stage for the previous head-to-heads between Bielsa and Guardiola in 2011-12 at a time when the latter’s team from the Gods in Barcelona were at their zenith and the former’s Athletic Bilbao line-up were starting to make waves.

A stoppage-time goal from Lionel Messi rescued Barca in a 2-2 draw at San Mames in November, 2011 and Guardiola’s side triumphed 2-0 in the reverse fixture at the Camp Nou before easing to a 3-0 victory in the Copa del Rey final in Madrid in May, 2012.

Bielsa is yet to taste victory against a Guardiola side and while today’s visitors are by no means as decorated as Barca were in their pomp of Messi, Zavi, Andres Iniesta and co, they are still pretty formidable.

On his memories of facing a team managed by Guardiola, Bielsa recalled: “They (Barca) managed to neutralise what we wanted to do and it was difficult to try and impose ourselves.

“Anyone who faced Barcelona in those years, everyone would probably give you the same answer. Many people are of the opinion that they were the best team in football.

“Who could have imagined such acts, that he (Guardiola) would be so successful with?”

Trophy count may be the biggest barometer of coaching success in today’s modern world, but for Guardiola and many contemporaries such as Mauricio Pochettino and Diego Simeone, there is simply no coach who is more important than Bielsa.

In their view, Bielsa is worthy of the accolade that many coaches aspire to and provides the ultimate vindication.

Just as Bill Shankly famously ‘made the people happy’, the Argentine makes players better.

Guardiola’s fascination with the work of Bielsa took him to his mentor’s ranch in Argentina during his time winding down his playing career in Mexico.

By all accounts, an intense and wide-ranging discussion about the concepts of football – including heated conversations about techniques, positions and different teams took place over the space of 11 hours.

It spoke of two men with an idealistic view of how the game should be played – both hopelessly in love with football.

Respect from Bielsa was reciprocated when his Bilbao side were on the receiving end of that Copa del Rey final loss at the Vicente Calderón in Guardiola’s final game as Barca manager before a year’s sabbatical.

Bielsa solemnly remarked that Guardiola’s exit was ‘huge loss for football’, deriving no pleasure whatsoever at the fact that a rival was leaving his position.

Talk of being a mentor might normally sit snugly on the shoulders of someone at Bielsa’s time of life and given his standing in global football, but the 65-year-old has never been someone who is prone to hubris.

He views his rival today as no impersonator and someone who is independent in thought – despite the similarities in their approach to football.

Bielsa said: “I do not feel like a mentor to Guardiola. It is not just how I feel, it is just evidence to that not being the case.

“There is a manager who is independent in his ideas and that is Guardiola. It is not just because I say it is, it’s because his teams play like no other team.”

As for that meeting with Guardiola in his homeland, the Leeds head coach recalled: “We spoke about football and what we spoke about made me think it was someone who really thought about football.

“Who could have imagined such acts, that he would be so successful with?”

In his time at Leeds, Bielsa has never deviated away or compromised his playing style and why would he given the way his teams have wowed audiences during his time in this country and the successful results he has gained along the way?

In contrast to Jose Mourinho, Bielsa is certainly no pragmatist either and will not amend his philosophy in order to get a particular result, no matter who the opposition are.

That much was evident in Leeds’s stylish return to the Premier League three weeks ago when they went toe-to-toe with a Liverpool side who swept aside teams with contemptuous ease last season.

It ended in a narrow 4-3 loss on a beguiling opening night, but Bielsa’s side were by no means inferior to the champions on a footballing level in one of the most eye-catching first-day showings by a newly-promoted side in Premier League history.

After facing the likes of Sadio Mane and Mo Salah, Leeds now prepare for the arrival of Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne et al and while there is obvious respect for their latest marquee opponents, there is no feeling of intimidation either.

Loathe to make predictions, Bielsa does make one simple promise ahead of today’s game.

He said: “It’s one of the biggest games in the Premier League. We will try to play the same way we always do.

“We wouldn’t know how to do it any other way.”

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Thank you

James Mitchinson