Marcelo Bielsa comments on Helder Costa after Leeds win

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Marcelo Bielsa lauded Helder Costa for producing a massive effort in Leeds United’s win over Manchester City on Saturday – in comments reported by Leeds Live.

Whites fans would have been forgiven for being worried about the left flank heading into the trip to the Etihad Stadium.

Gjanni Alioski has had a mixed time at left-back. Meanwhile, Jack Harrison was ineligible to face his parent club. That presented Costa with an opportunity.

The 27-year-old has not had the best time this term. And it appeared that he had a huge task ahead if he hoped to make a statement with his performance.

But that is arguably exactly what he did. He played a pivotal role in both goals, laying the ball off for the player who would ultimately set up Stuart Dallas.

But his overall performance seemed to be vital to Leeds. There were a number of occasions when he won possession and would get forward to relieve some of the pressure on the 10-men.

And when asked about how proud he was of the team – but particularly Dallas – Bielsa made sure to mention Costa’s contribution.

“It’s difficult to attack when you don’t have the possession of the ball to be able to convert it into one. Some passages of the first half we had offensive presence. And in the close of the game we also had offensive presence. But that wasn’t constant as we didn’t have the ball,” he said, as reported by Leeds Live.

“And in that sense, Dallas with his enormous run, Raphinha with his capacity to unbalance, and Helder who today made a massive effort, it allowed us to keep the hope of scoring one more goal.”

What may surprise some is that no player won more tackles than Costa. According to Whoscored, only Joao Cancelo could match his tally of four successful challenges.

The way that he and Raphinha stretched the play during the second-half gave Leeds hope that they could score a winner.

In truth, Costa may well return to the bench for the clash with Liverpool. But he may do so off the back of one of his finest performances to date for Leeds.