Ignore all talk of master versus student when Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City meet

Guardiola made the move to South America to learn from a man he regarded as an incredible coach and in October 2006 made a trip to Argentina to seek out another.

He paid a visit to Marcelo Bielsa’s ranch to talk football, at the recommendation of former Roma team-mate Gabriel Batistuta.

The story is told in Tim Rich’s book The Quality of Madness, A Life of Marcelo Bielsa and according to the fly on the wall, Spanish film director David Trueba who accompanied Guardiola to Máximo Paz, an hour of cinema discussion was followed by ‘frantic’ conversations about football, tactics and managerial intricacies.

Had he taken a camera, the footage would make him a very rich man and streaming services would be falling over each other to acquire it.

The coaches’ paths crossed again in November 2011 when Bielsa was managing Athletic Bilbao and Guardiola was well into his tenure as Barcelona boss, their teams drawing 2-2 in what the Spaniard described as a ‘song to football.’ Barcelona won the return fixture 2-0 and triumphed 3-0 in the Copa del Rey final.

At Elland Road on Saturday Guardiola, who appointed Lillo as his assistant earlier this year to replace Mikel Arteta, will get the chance to debate football with Bielsa once more, with a practical demonstration, when his City visit Leeds United.

The Whites’ return to the Premier League delighted Guardiola.

“He has done an exceptional job,” he said of Bielsa in July.

“He is unique in world football because of the special way he plays. I learnt a lot about his style, his final product. He’s an incredible person, so special.

“It will be incredible for English football to have him in the Premier League next season.”

Their coming together on the touchline is one of the major sub-plots if not the major sub-plot of a game that might otherwise simply be billed as title contenders versus newly-promoted survival hopefuls.

Both men will trade compliments in the pre-game discussion, genuine compliments that come from a place of mutual admiration. At the same time they will be plotting against one another, hellbent on winning.

All the while, Bielsa will be learning, because it is not just the games that teach him about the game but all the work he does each and every day to try and help Leeds win.

“When I am managing I always feel like I’m learning, because I want to protect myself from our opponents and make my team bigger, better,” he said.

“This forces me to look with attention. When you watch with attention the game always offers interesting or new things to learn.”

In the formative years of Bielsa’s managerial career he, like Guardiola, was keen to look to other coaches for wisdom.

Louis van Gaal, just four years his senior, created a team in Holland in the 1990s that left a lasting impression on the footballing world, Bielsa included.

“When I was forming myself as a coach I always had an inclination to look at Van Gaal,” said Bielsa. “The team he created when he was at Ajax is an unforgettable team. Also bear in mind all the great teams in the past whilst they had great managers they also had brilliant individuals.

“For example there are teams who have a lot of very good individuals who don’t become a great team. In the case of Van Gaal at Ajax it was a whole bunch of brilliant individuals who became a very good team.”

But he mostly credits players, and not just his own, for teaching him fresh ideas.

“Players are the ones who create new things to learn, when you are in this profession as a manager you watch your players and all the other ones,” he said.

This week he will learn from Guardiola’s City. He might pick something up from the Leicester players who hammered then 5-2 last weekend, too, as he pours over game footage and data.

If City teach Leeds a lesson, ignore headlines about the student becoming the master. Bielsa would never accept the title of master and the day he stops being a student of the game will be the day he walks away. Don’t be baited into pointless arguments over who is greater.

This is just another meeting of their minds and we all get to play the part of David Trueba.

Sit back and enjoy a 90-minute long frantic conversation of football.