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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp praised Leeds United counterpart Marcelo Bielsa after pipping him to an award on Thursday night.

Liverpool’s 53-year-old manager Klopp was named the top men’s coach at the Best FIFA awards, edging out Bielsa and Bayern Munich’s Hansi Flick to the individual prize.

Klopp guided the Merseyside giants to the Premier League title during the 2019/20 season with a stunning campaign throughout and he’s built a special group at Anfield.

Meanwhile, Bielsa was perhaps a surprise finalist for the award on the three-man shortlist, as he was not operating on the European stage last year like his two rivals.

But the meticulous 65-year-old manager helped Leeds end a 16-year wait to get promoted back to the Premier League from the Championship and he’s adored by many for his philosophy.

After winning the prize, Klopp gave a glowing verdict on Bielsa and paid him a huge amount of respect.

“Marcelo Bielsa, the workhorse of all us coaches, probably, you cannot probably work as much as he does,” Klopp told LFCTV.

“We were all sitting there in a suit… Marcelo wore the Leeds tracksuit, so probably sitting in his office preparing the next game. Such an influential manager over the years. You cannot praise him enough for the things he did for football.”

TBR’s View:

Klopp and Bielsa were involved in a thriller when they faced off earlier in the season, as Liverpool edged out Leeds 4-3 at Anfield in a cracking first league match.

If Liverpool are renowned right now as the best team in the division, Leeds are surely regarded as the entertainers after making a huge noise on their return to the top-flight.

The Yorkshire giants play such a high intensity and expansive game, something which Bielsa has installed into his group in the past couple of years and the improvement of players such as Luke Ayling, Stuart Dallas and Kalvin Phillips under him has been immense.

The Whites are extremely fortunate to have Bielsa in charge at Elland Road and further down the line whenever it comes to trying to replace him it could prove a nightmare.