Marcelo Bielsa lauds Patrick Bamford's 'beautiful' goal and Leeds United striker's unselfish act as England question pops up again
Patrick Bamford's goal against Leicester City was 'beautiful' in the eyes of Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa and his second assist 'generous.'
The Whites striker battled hard all game against the Foxes' centre-backs, trying to give Leeds a platform to build from in the opponents' half.
But his involvement in all three of Leeds' goals in the 3-1 win is what will be remembered.
He played in Stuart Dallas for Leeds' first, cancelling out Harvey Barnes' opener, then guided a missile into the top corner of Kasper Schmeichel's net to put Leeds in front in the second half.
"It was a beautiful goal," said his head coach.
"The shot went at pace where it is difficult to put it in with such power, conserving the violence of the shot. You can shoot hard or shoot to that spot - what is difficult it to be able to do both things."
With six minutes remaining Leicester were knocking repeatedly on the Leeds door until Dallas found Klich and he put Bamford clean through on goal. The frontman went one on one with Schmeichel but opted to steer the ball to his right where Jack Harrison arrived to find the empty net.
The unselfishness impressed Bielsa.
"What I value most is for 3-1 he passed to Jack Harrison when a goalscorer would normally go for goal," he said.
"Normally goalscorers prefer to score themselves rather than to give the pass. In this case it's very valuable that Patrick opted to pass the ball to assure the third goal rather than to build up his own account.
"He was very generous and thought more of the team."
Bamford's performance, inevitably, led to more questions for Bielsa about his number nine's chances of making the step up to international level with England, particularly with Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate watching from the stands at the King Power Stadium.
But Bielsa, himself a former national team boss with Chile and Argentina, is sticking to his principles on that subject. It's a matter for Southgate and Southgate alone.
"The inclusion of Patrick in the England squad, you have to compare all the other options available to the national coach," he said.
"These comparisons, the one who has to compare is the national coach. I sincerely don't feel capable of answering this question, I don't compare all the options available to him. He would know better."