Leeds United new boy reveals Anfield dressing room talk of 'special' Manchester United clash
The collective Leeds United feeling about Manchester United has already been drummed into Jaka Bijol, so much so that it was the talk of the Anfield dressing room.
Bijol is one of several newcomers to English football in Daniel Farke's squad, signed this summer for the Premier League survival bid. While all of the new recruits will have familiarised themselves with Leeds United, the club's culture and history, and will have been keenly aware of who Manchester United are, some degree of education is still required. Traditionally it has fallen to the club veterans in the dressing room to inform new boys of the hatred that exists between Leeds supporters and the club wearing red across the Pennines, but club staff also play a part. Little helpful titbits like ensuring to avoid using the moniker 'United' for their rivals instead of Leeds.
It was no surprise that when Bijol came to the Anfield mixed zone after helping Leeds to a clean sheet and a point against Liverpool, talk quickly turned to Sunday's Elland Road clash with the old enemy. But the Slovenian revealed that the dressing room was already discussing it.
"It's not only one individual [who has told me about the rivalry] I would say there's many of them, like you guys [the media] as well," he said. "Today you can see, you can see it straight away. You know, also in the locker room we already talked about it now, after this, right after the game, that we really want to bring the energy on Sunday and to perform. A full Elland Road is going to be electric, for sure. And we're going to make sure that we are here with a good performance. I think that in the last weeks, we show that we really want to bring every game 100 per cent, not only derby games, but it always brings something more."
Bijol is no stranger to heated fixtures. He played in eight derbies for CSKA Moscow against Spartak Moscow during his time in Russia. In fact Spartak is the team he has played the most games against in club football. In six league games he was on the winning side four times, drawing once and losing one. He lost both cup encounters with his side's bitter rivals in a pair of quarter-finals. As an international he played against Croatia and got himself a 90th-minute headed equaliser. But Sunday will still be a very new experience.
"I've played in a few [big derby games]," he said. "Maybe not in Italy, but before in Russia it was a quite big derby as well, I would say, You cannot compare to the level of here, of course, but it always brings something special. But [in terms of] the intensity, you have to be there every week. So if it's Manchester United or not, you have to perform like [we did] today here at Anfield. But it is a special game, we all know that it is."