'He's a genius' - Tigres hero André-Pierre Gignac facing Bayern Munich in Club World Cup final shares experience with Leeds United's Patrick Bamford

The Frenchman takes on Bayern Munich today in the Club World Cup final with Mexican side Tigres, having scored the only goal of their semi-final win over Palmeiras.

Gignac could have had a hat-trick but for the goalkeeping of Palmeiras number one Weverton who stopped two goal-bound attempts from the 35-year-old. The first, a curling shot from the left side of the area, became so familiar at Olympique de Marseille that fans were tiring of it, until Bielsa arrived at The Stade Vélodrome. The second, a towering header, is something OM supporters came to love and something for which he thanks Bielsa.

Gignac, like Whites goalkeeper Illan Meslier, began his professional life with Lorient before three seasons at Toulouse, two of which he finished as top goalscorer.

In August 2010 he joined OM for around €16m but struggled to hit the ground running.

“Nowadays he has a magnificent image amongst OM fans, largely because of his last season with Bielsa,” said Mourad Aerts, of website Football Club de Marseille.

“Before that it was a bit chaotic for Gignac.

“He arrived at the French champions, coached by Didier Dechamps, but they actually wanted to recruit Luís Fabiano. The sporting director went for Gignac, a French international and local boy, for a huge fee.

“The first two years he was not the most professional and gained weight. His team-mate Rod Fanni said ‘come on, give him a break, he’s not so bad, he just has – in French we say péché mignon – a thing for saucisson’.

“Dechamps was not a father figure. Talk with players of the time and they would tell you that he would let you run your life and do what you wanted but you had to respond on the pitch, in training, be 100 per cent professional. Gignac was not exactly that.”

Falling out with Deschamps and out of favour led to a failed attempted sale to Fulham.

“It was a real mess,” Aerts told The Yorkshire Evening Post. “At the end of the second season not many still believed in him, there was talk of selling him to Montpellier.”

But Deschamps’ departure in 2012 brought a measure of redemption.

“The team were playing poorly but he was scoring all the goals,” said Aerts.

“OM finished second and Gignac scored 13. People recognised certain value in him.”

Despite scoring 16 in Ligue 1 in his fourth season, Gignac still hadn’t won the fans over entirely.

“People were saying he was monopolising our attack and always doing the same move, going left and coming back to the middle to try and curl the ball, something he was doing a bit too much,” said Aerts. “He was still scoring but people were not completely fans of the guy. Then Bielsa came and everything changed.”

This is where the story will become wildly familiar for Whites.

Bielsa, appointed in the summer of 2014, made the 27-year-old a promise.

“He told me: André, trust me. Lower your weight between four and five kilos and you will score 25 goals in the season,” Gignac told Life and Style Magazine.

Bielsa’s prediction wasn’t quite right – Gignac scored 23 – but it was as much what he did off the ball that turned him into a fan favourite.

Gignac led the press, in the same way Bamford does to such good effect for Leeds. That the goals flowed, as they are for Bamford in the Premier League, was a huge bonus.

“Gignac was always really active but with Bielsa’s style of play his activity was used to press forward,” said Aerts.

“It worked great and fans always love to see their player running so much to try and win the ball.

“The second thing that was visible was how much better his play in the air got. His movement, everything he was doing to be alone in the box and the way he was smashing in headers was so impressive.

“The way Gignac was performing was truly exceptional, beautiful to see and he credited Bielsa for this change, especially his game in the air.”

And, like Bamford, whose two affectionate embraces with the head coach caught on camera during training and the promotion celebrations stirred an emotional response from Leeds fans, Gignac enjoyed a special relationship with Bielsa.

Le Parisien reported in 2009 that his mother Corinne’s descendants were Spanish Romani, so he could understand and respond to what Bielsa was saying to some degree.

“Bielsa obviously admired him a lot and he emphasised the fact that Bielsa transformed the club and gave him great things,” said Aerts.

“There’s a famous letter Bielsa wrote to Gignac, in which he said Gignac is similar to Marseille – they transform rebellion into greatness.

“OM fans still have this in our heads.”

Gignac left OM at the end of a campaign that inspired Aerts to write the book ‘Bielsa at OM, investigation into a passionate relationship’. Bielsa departed after one game of the 2015/16 season. They both still enjoy huge popularity at OM.

“Gignac is actually more popular than ever,” said Aerts.

“The fact that he left OM on a great note is still really special. That memory is still alive.”

OM fans continue to follow a career which has confounded the expectation that he would go to Mexico to wind down.

“His arrival sparked hope, but what he has done has exceeded all expectations,” said Cesar Vargas of Radio Alegria, who has reported on Tigres since 1992. “His arrival was love at first sight with fans.”

Bielsa lit a fire under Gignac and the striker has exploded ever since, scoring at least 20 a season to break a record set in the 80s by Tigres legend Tomás Boy.

This season he has 17 in 23 games, taking him to 147 for Los Auriazules.

Beating Bayern Munich would add a Club World Cup title to four league championships, three Campeón de Campeones triumphs, a CONCACAF Champions League and a Campeones Cup winner’s medal he has already earned with Tigres. Victory today would top the lot, but he already owns a coveted position in history.

“He is a warrior and that connects a lot with fans,” said Vargas.

“Gignac is already the best foreign player in club history, the debate will begin if he or Tomás Boy is the best player in history.”

Gignac’s background, story and personality may have little in common with Bamford but the pair have a shared experience and the following words could have come from either man: “If I am progressing ... it is thanks to him, to the coach. With Marcelo Bielsa everything is different, but it is incredibly exhausting, because his game is based on pressing, it is man to man over the whole field. He is a genius, but he is very hard.”

As it happens Gignac was responsible for those quotes.

Bielsa won’t hear it said but he was at least partly responsible for the transformation of a striker in France who became a legend in Mexico.

Whatever Bamford goes on to achieve, he too will lay much of the credit at the feet of the Argentine.