‘Giants’ – Slaven Bilic names CL last-16 club who are similar to Leeds
West Brom manager Slaven Bilic has claimed that Leeds United are similar to Serie A giants Napoli due to how much they mean in their city.
Leeds is a one-club city that boasts massive support for the Whites, with Elland Road always being one of the fullest stadiums in the Championship and the away fans always travelling in huge numbers.
Although the Whites have been out of the Premier League for almost 16 years, the club’s supporters remain one of the most fiercely loyal.
In an interview with Croatian news outlet Sata24, Bilic compared Leeds with Napoli and his former club Hajduk Split, who he sees as the Croatian equivalent.
“There are clubs that mean a lot to the city and the region, and Hajduk is something more. There are clubs like this, but Hajduk is a way of life. It’s Napoli, it’s Leeds, I felt it, it’s the giants,” said the West Brom boss.
It is nice to hear a rival manager say something positive about Leeds when he really wasn’t prompted to.
Napoli, who were set to play Barcelona in the Champions League last-16 last month, are a massive club who are quite similar to Leeds.
They have a big group of supporters, are famous for their history, have won plenty of honours and in recent years we are starting to see a resurgence in their quality.
Napoli have finished second in the last four Serie A seasons whereas before then they were usually dwindling around the mid-table.
Leeds have gone from mid-table club to serious promotion and title contenders under Marcelo Bielsa and maybe, in a few years’ time, they’ll be able to continue building on their impressive finishes in the Premier League.
In other Leeds United news, Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford have paid tribute to Norman Hunter.