Brendan Rodgers reveals training ground meet up with Leeds United's Marcelo Bielsa lifted Leicester City spirits

The Whites meet City this afternoon at Elland Road in Premier League action as the two sides come to blows for the first time in 2021/22.

Rodgers saw his outfit narrowly miss out on Champions League football on the final day - earning a Europa League place instead - due to a defeat to Tottenham Hotspur when three points would've secured it.

The 48-year-old has now revealed how a planned meeting with Bielsa at Leicester's training ground picked his spirits up in the aftermath before the summer break.

"It has a real numbing effect on me, not qualifying for the Champions League," Rodgers told Mail Online.

"I spent a couple of hours with him and it was a breath of fresh air. He’s a great man.

"He arranged to come in, take a look at our facilities and speak about football. It felt good.

"I came out of the conversation having lost the day before and before I went on holiday it was really great to chat to him. I had a great morning with him."

He added: "I’ve followed his career from the days he was in Argentina. I’ve seen lots of sessions of his.

"He has an unswerving commitment as to how he wants to play. That takes a lot of courage in this game at times.

"You’ll have heard it yourselves, that they are too open. But his commitment, he has an inherent belief in it. But he has values as a person.

"When you speak and listen to him — he’s had a fantastic career. He’s hugely influential in his methods. You see his enthusiasm.

"He loves football and that really shines through."