The team’s changed a lot since then
Today Leeds United kick off their Championship campaign against the relegated Stoke City. The match is their first under enigmatic Argentinian manager Marcelo Bielsa, who is credited as influencing the style of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino among others.
The opener will be a tough test for Leeds who finished 13th in England’s second tier last season. However, the Bielsalution is well underway in West Yorkshire with the 63-year-old instilling his famously idiosyncratic management style onto the club, and pre-season seeing the signing of left-back Barry Douglas and striker Patrick Bamford, along with Jamal Blackman, Lewis Baker and Jack Harrison on season-long loan deals.
But, of course, it’s hard to talk about Leeds for any amount of time without harking back to their glory days.
It has now been 14 years since the team played in the Premier League and over a quarter of a century since they last won the top tier of Engish football. Their last golden period came under David O’Leary, the crowning achievement being in the 2000-01 season when Leeds reached the semi-final of the Champions League.
Their opponents, Valencia, would prove too much for the Yorkshire team over two legs, but the first leg at Elland Road saw the Spanish outfit held to a 0-0 draw. The question now, though, is how well you remember that game.
Eleven players – pictured above – started that home leg for Leeds: can you name them all?
Good luck, you have three minutes…
