The Premier League champions will kick off their bid to retain their title against newly-promoted Leeds United on the opening weekend of the season.

Jurgen Klopp‘s side start the season in unchartered territory as Premier League champions, now the hunted instead of the hunters.

The Reds will begin their title defence at home to Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds, followed by a trip to Chelsea for their first away game of the campaign.


In a rare interview, Marcelo Bielsa tells Sky Sports about the challenge facing Leeds on their long-awaited return to the Premier League. Watch Liverpool vs Leeds live on Sky Sports Premier League HD from 5pm on Saturday; kick off 5.30pm
Last Updated: 11/09/20 4:01pm




He is one of the world's most revered managers, a God-like figure to some who counts Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino among his disciples. He is viewed as an enigma, an eccentric, an obsessive. He is Marcelo Bielsa, saviour of Leeds and architect of their Premier League return.

His managerial career spans four decades. It has taken him to seven different countries on three different continents. There has been glory - although many would argue not enough - and acrimony too. Books have been written about his methods; papers published on his tactics.

His idiosyncrasies only add to his aura. He sits on an upturned bucket in his technical area on matchdays and lives in a one-bedroom flat in Wetherby. There are shopping trips to Morrisons and coaching meetings in the local Costa. He is rarely seen in anything other than his Leeds tracksuit. He even wore it to the club's black-tie centenary dinner last year.

It is rare, in the theatre of modern football, for a manager to come with a genuine air of mystique but it has followed Bielsa throughout his career. He does not care for the limelight. He keeps media engagements to a minimum and speaks without soundbites, eschewing eye contact.

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The Premier League, though, brings another level of attention and, ahead of Leeds' opening game of the season against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, Bielsa has agreed to take questions from Sky Sports.

It is, we are told, his first one-on-one interview in 27 years.

It takes place, by video call, after the press conference in which he has confirmed he is staying at Leeds for another season. The news is expected but it comes as a relief to supporters nonetheless. Bielsa is nothing if not unpredictable. He left his post at Marseille one game into his second season and walked away from Lazio two days after his appointment.

At Leeds, though, there is little doubt he is happy, his work unfinished.

Since the celebrations which greeted their long-awaited promotion in July, he has left nothing to chance - "I haven't had any free time to take a holiday," he says - in order to prepare his players for the challenge ahead.

"With preparation, you always have to consider every aspect," Bielsa tells Sky Sports. "You have to prepare mentally and you have to prepare physically. I don't know how the players are going to adjust. It's something you have to experience before you can be sure of it."

Bielsa's devotion to the job is absolute. "His work ethic is incomparable," says Guardiola in Sky Sports documentary Bielsa: El Loco and Leeds. There are stories of him shutting himself away for days on end to pore over match footage. His meticulous approach to analysis is legendary, enhanced by the PowerPoint presentation he gave during the infamous Spygate saga.

But it is not a reputation he much cares for. He is fixated solely on coaching, far more interested in the job itself than the discussions around it.

Leeds can surprise

Can Leeds beat Liverpool?

Leeds united to win

Liverpool 1 - Leeds Utd 2

First shock of the season loading

Expert17:
Leeds united to win

Liverpool 1 - Leeds Utd 2

First shock of the season loading

Game never start, una don dey do bad belle.

Dominique front page o

Ok

My game must port

A chilled beer for the roll

Leeds go collect... Sure 4me

who should i bet on ? who do yall think will win ?

Liverpool wins...

EbukaHades10:
Game never start, una don dey do bad belle.

Banter is allowed anytime..

don't know what y'all hating on Liverpool success do gain

to all my fellow Liverpool fans,Stay happy and Rep Reds for life...#YNWA

NobleEngineer:
Leeds go collect... Sure 4me

collect win or loss ?

Liverpool 5-0 Leeds

Liverpool to resume their usual thrashing on some epl teams, Leeds is one of them ,.

#YNWA

Lemme skeet over here.

Modified: It's 5:30 o. Match is starting. Someone should create a thread.

EtteP:
Liverpool 5-0 Leeds

LEEDS IS THAT BAD ?

Fun for football lovers. If it isn't Nigeria that's playing e no concern me. Period.

The EPL should be cancelled, Covid19 is real, human lives matter..FA pls hand Arsenal the EPL already.

Matrimonous:
G

Let's go red

Who else thinks Mane is going to score twice

#YNWA

9jayes:


Let's go red

Ok

ogododo:
Can Leeds beat Liverpool?

No way!

Its match day

Hmmm

Mtcheew! This one is just here praising leeds manager and forgets who he's up against.

4 : 0 scoreline.

#YNWA

Liverpool for the win.


Am a gunner fan o