Manchester United midfielder Fred says Man United’s rivalry with Leeds United can be likened to ‘an English football Clasico’.
Fred is looking forward to a ‘tough’ trip as Manchester United travel to Elland Road to take on Leeds at the weekend.
Both clubs have history that goes way back but the clubs have barely met in the past two decades, due to The Whites’ absence from the top-flight.
Sunday’s clash between both sides will be United’s first visit to face Leeds in the Premier League in over 18 years, and Fred knows this particular fixture always comes with a thrill.
“Definitely, it’s an English football Clasico,” the 28-year-old said to the club’s website. “We get a feel for this anticipation from social media.
“The fans are excited about this game, as are we of course. We haven’t had a midweek game this week, so the anticipation for the next game increases and it’s a derby game against a massive rival.”
“It’ll be a really tough game but we’ll be preparing well for it this week.”
The Reds will be keen for a repeat of the first meeting of the season with Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
United ran out 6-2 winners on that occasion and were two goals to the good after just three minutes, thanks to Scott McTominay’s brace.
Despite the convincing score-line, Fred knows that Leeds can be tricky customers, taking into account their recent victory over leaders Manchester City for instance.
“I don’t know if it was our best performance of the season, [but] 6-2 was a great result of course,” he replied when asked if that was United’s stand-out showing in 2020/21. “I think we’ve had better performances this season.”
“Scott’s two goals very early on helped us to control the game, but they’re very difficult opponents playing with such high intensity, they’re very strong and always looking to attack.”
“We’re prepared for this, we know how they play and we’ll aim to be at our very best to get the win.”
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