Tony Dorigo on where Sheffield United rivalry ranks and what Leeds United can expect at Bramall Lane

Manchester United and Chelsea, he says, are in a category of their own in that respect, with Dorigo knowing all too well the friction between the Whites and the Blues.

It was after four years with Chelsea that the Australian left-back signed for the Whites in 1991 with the defender soon realising the level of hostility involved between Leeds and Chelsea.

Yet six years at Elland Road also brought enough regular battles against Yorkshire foes Sheffield United to leave Dorigo in no doubt as to what this Sunday’s derby will mean as the two sides finally renew top-flight rivalries.

After a 16-year absence, the Whites and Blades Yorkshire derby is back on the menu in the country’s top division a decade and a half after the two sides slugged it out in frequent top-flight battles in the early 1990s.

Dorigo remembers them well, and in particular the 3-2 success at Bramall Lane of April 1992 that saw Howard Wilkinson’s Whites crowned champions of England.

As far as contests at Bramall Lane were concerned, Leeds also enjoyed a 2-0 triumph in the Steel City in September 1990 with the Blades then gaining revenge for their two recent Whites defeats via a 2-1 success at home to Leeds in April 1993.

What remains the most recent top-flight meeting between the two sides in Sheffield then ended in a 2-2 draw in March 1994 with the two clubs having met 12 times since in either the Championship, FA Cup or League Cup.

Up until a late Pablo Hernandez strike sealed a 1-0 victory at Bramall Lane in the Championship fixture of December 2018, Leeds had gone eight games without winning at Bramall Lane with six of those contests ending in defeat.

And, despite their poor start to the season, Dorigo knows just the sort of test awaiting Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites in Sunday’s high-noon showdown with the former left-back having enjoyed success at Bramall Lane in his own career but not without an almighty battle.

“I don’t know how many Leeds games I played in at Bramall Lane but I remember a few!” Dorigo told The Yorkshire Evening Post.

“Every time I went there they were quite similar games.

"It was crazy in that when we used to play there, we were always technically the better side.

“You always felt comfortable going there and playing in that we should beat Sheff’ United.

“However, they are dogged, they were determined and they would make it difficult for us and I think even now they show similar traits.

"For me, the biggest one was the game there when we won the title, the 3-2, and it was just a weird atmosphere as well.

"There was wind swirling around and there were crisp packets going like cyclones on the pitch, all this crazy stuff and you think ‘what is going on here?’.

“It was just a weird situation and it was one of those games where you thought we are fine, we start properly, we win this game, you go ahead and you feel comfortable.

“But next up they get a goal back and then they get another one and you think what is going on here?

“It was just a strange game and you have to be on your mettle for the absolute 90 minutes and, of course, with Sheffield and Leeds there is plenty of rivalry and there is always a great atmosphere. They are never easy games.”

Dorigo was still at Chelsea when goals from John Pearson and Gordon Strachan gave Leeds a 2-0 triumph at Bramall Lane in September 1990 as the two sides met in a first top-flight derby for 14 years having been promoted together the previous season with Leeds having gone up as Division Two champions and the Blades runners-up.

But Dorigo played the full 90 minutes of Leeds’ title-sealing victory at Bramall Lane the following season in April 1992 in which a Rod Wallace deflection, Jon Newsome header and headed Brian Gayle own goal clinched the Whites the title and Dorigo also played the full duration of the 2-2 draw of March 1994 having missed the 2-1 loss there the previous season.

Goals from Gary Speed and Brian Deane put a dominant Leeds 2-0 up in the clash of March ’94 only for the Blades to fight back and earn a dramatic late draw while a Frank Strandli equaliser proved in vain in the 2-1 loss of April 1993 in which Deane bagged the winner for the Blades before his move to the Whites that summer.

Twelve of the last 20 meetings have been settled by a single goal with three ending in draws and, whilst not at Manchester United or Chelsea levels, Dorigo says the Blades are still notable rivals.

Assessing where Sheffield United would feature in Leeds’ list of rivals, Dorigo laughed: “Certainly Man United and Chelsea are quite clear up there!

“I soon worked that one out when I signed for Chelsea, that was something I didn’t quite realise, how deep the feeling ran but I soon worked it out.

“But Sheffield United you are looking fifth or sixth, something like that, simply because Sheffield must look at Leeds and I suppose when I was playing Leeds were the big team and Sheffield United were the kind of real hardworking team that weren’t as big.

“They had a few kind of journeymen there that had got their careers reborn, they were looking at the big boys and thinking we want to knock them over, simple as that and we had to deal with that as well.

“They are only 30 miles down the road as well and there is plenty of rivalry and with Sheffield Wednesday in there as well but, certainly in recent times, Sheffield United have done fantastically well and you just look at how well they play and I watched them on Monday night as well in the defeat against Aston Villa.

“It’s the Steel City and that’s what they have got about them.

“They are strong and they have got some character about them, they really have.

“They may not be the most flamboyant of sides but they do the basics really, really well and that can be difficult.”

Now 54 and enjoying media work, Adelaide-born Dorigo will oversee this Sunday’s derby from a different vantage point covering the game live for LUTV.

But even though he fully appreciates the demands placed on Leeds’ players by Bielsa, Dorigo would have relished a clash against the Blades and top-flight football in general under the club’s already legendary Argentinian head coach.

“I would have absolutely loved it,” said Dorigo, assessing how much he would have fancied playing under Bielsa.

“Wilko was certainly a hard taskmaster, we were a very, very fit side as well.

“But clearly Marcelo has taken it to the next level and I think that any player worth his salt would realise that playing under a manager like Marcelo is going to improve you.

“All you want to do is you want to be involved in winning things, you want to improve, you want to play for your country and all those things Marcelo gives you.

“If I could have played for him it would have been a wonderful experience and that, no doubt, is why we have got now a German international in Robin Koch and soon to be two Spanish internationals with Rodrigo and Diego Llorente. They understand.”

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Thank you Laura Collins