Leeds United's Junior Firpo opens up on relationship with fans and ‘special’ Leicester expectation

Right now, Firpo is living through an up, the biggest of his time at Elland Road. Leeds have won eight Championship games on the bounce and not only has Firpo been fit for the duration, he's started every single one. It's a far cry from the injury woe that dogged him for the first two seasons after a £13m move from Barcelona, and the first few months of this campaign.

"Feeling good, just finished a session, it was pretty tough, just a few days before Leicester, feeling good," he told the YEP. "Obviously when you're coming in, coming out with injuries it's the worst thing as a footballer, an athlete. You kill your head a little bit. And it's the worst thing when you're injured. When you're playing you don't feel that nervous feeling before the games, you can help at least, you're in the squad, but when you're injured you can do nothing, literally nothing. It's the best thing to have a group of people like we have in this team, who help each other, some players who have injury records talking between us, and obviously my friends and family. I think it's my longest run of games in a Leeds shirt and I'm pretty happy."

So many games in such a short space of time did not come without risk for Firpo, but the ex-Barca man believes applying the handbrake in the early stages of his reintroduction to action has paid dividends.

"The first few games are quite difficult because imagine you're out, not being able to do it, and then you come straight in and you try to give 200 per cent," he said. "Sometimes that's dangerous. This season for example I've worked a lot on the mental part of it and what I think I did the best was at the start, when I came back, trying to manage myself. Knowing myself that I cannot go 100 per cent every day, is the best thing that I did. That helped me a lot."

A return to action in a winning team and, more specifically, the four assists in three games he contributed in January, has heralded a new song from the Leeds fanbase. It's a popular one, catchy too. There were times in the not-so-distant past when the idea of the left-back's name being sung with such affection could have been considered unlikely, at best. Firpo, though, does not look at his relationship with the fanbase as hot and cold, disagreeing when it’s suggested to him that there have been ups and downs with the supporters. And the context of his La Liga background helps with that.

"I cannot say it's been up and down with the fans," he said. "Obviously there's always hate in football, this will be like that always, I don't know why, some people are like that. But as soon as I arrived here three years ago I felt a big, big welcome, they were behind me, at the start of the season, during the season even though we weren't doing that good. I think in the stadium, I wouldn't say it's been up and down. I come from Spain, I've come from some difficult places where fans in the stadium actually boo you or just whistle at you every time you touch the ball. This didn't happen here. Obviously they weren't happy enough but I wasn't happy enough. I knew I wasn't playing at my best, because of injuries, not having that much game time. Now I think when you win every game it's much easier, everyone is happy, especially us players. I feel really good with the fans, with the team, with everyone."

On Friday night at Elland Road it will take everyone to make everyone happy, come full-time. Leeds will put their winning streak on the line against the Championship leaders. Firpo will need to be at his best, when faced with the Championship's most prolific 'big chance' creator Abdul Fatawu. The fans will have their part to play, too. Firpo met with some of them on Tuesday night at Elland Road, guest starring at a veterans' cafe organised by the Leeds United Foundation. Putting faces and personal encounters to what can at times be an arm's length relationship gives him a better understanding of exactly who it is he will be representing. He predicts big things from them on Friday.

"When they come here to these type of things, especially older guys, you can see the happiness on the face and how much they love Leeds," he said. "How they talk about us, I dunno, they talk about me better than my mama. I think they really love this club and we try to do the best for them.

"I expect a special atmosphere. I've never been in a game like I can expect on Friday night. It's really important. I don't know how many points were between them and us, like 17? But now if we win we will be six behind with 13 games left. I expect a really good Elland Road for us, but really hard for them. For sure it will make a difference."