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Mutual admiration: Pep and Bielsa set for Premier League tie

Sports Desk, Oct 2 (efe-epa).- This weekend’s Premier League action will see Pep Guardiola come face-to-face with a manager he once described as the best in the world as Manchester City travel to Elland Road where Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United awaits.

Pep has previously played against the stats-obsessed Argentine when the pair were working in LaLiga, coaching Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao respectively.

Pep was full of praise for Bielsa during the pre-match press conference on Friday.

“I think (Bielsa is) probably the person I admire the most in world football as a manager and as a person,” he said.

“I think he is the most authentic manager of all time in terms of how he conducts his teams, he is unique. Especially his behaviour as a person off the pitch.”

“I played three times against Marcelo at Bilbao, and every game was so difficult.”

City’s Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus will not be available for the match as he is continuing to recover from a muscle issue he picked up against Wolves.

Bielsa also heaped praise on the Catalan during his press conference on Thursday.

“He’s imaginative. He’s capable of instantly coming up with solutions to problems he comes across,” he said.

“When you praise someone, it is very important to explain why. We see football in an imaginative way and Guardiola imagines football in terms of freedom. But envisioning football this way does not mean the players will act in the same way.”

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