Marcelo Bielsa has spoken with the media prior to his side travelling to the South Coast this weekend, to take on Brighton & Hove Albion. 

The Seagulls won at Elland Road when the two teams met in January, so Bielsa and his squad are fully aware of the challenge they will face at the AMEX Stadium on Saturday.

“Brighton are a team that is unfairly in the bottom part of the table,” Marcelo explained. 

“They are a team with a very good aerial game in their set-pieces, it’s a team that constantly changes the distribution of the players on the field without it causing any problems.

“It’s a team that has the transition from defence to attack and attack to defence, very easy. They manage well with the ball and these are all aspects we need to take into account to prepare ourselves.  

“Also, to look at the things we need to improve and maintain the things we need to do well.

“What happened so many months ago is not comparable to what can happen on the weekend. Nor for better, or for worse. They’re not the same team and we’re not the same team also.

“To find modifications that facilitate obtaining a better result, we don’t think about it in a game that happened such a long time ago.”

The Leeds United head coach confirmed that Rodrigo is set to return to action, whilst Raphinha remains on the sidelines for now. 

Bielsa said: “[On Rodrigo] He’s healthy. That doesn’t mean he’s fit to play, we will see how many minutes he can play. 

“[On Raphinha] It is more difficult to give a diagnosis of when he will return. The impression is that we’re in the final stages before he is healed.”

The Whites will join in with a social media boycott this weekend in response to the ongoing and sustained discriminatory abuse received online by players and many others connected to football, a campaign for which Marcelo gave his views. 

He stated: “Anything that helps to combat discrimination and the possibility to cause harm anonymously and to damage or cause harm to someone unjustly, and the possibility to do this without the consequences, they are realities which should be combatted.”