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Leeds star looked like Elland Road's next Lucas Radebe with star performance vs Man United
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- Leeds star looked like Elland Road's next Lucas Radebe with star performance vs Man United
Leeds United's draw with Manchester United rolled back the years for a lot of older fans on Sunday.
Leeds' rivalry with Man United was a staple of English football throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, before the Whites dropped out of the top flight in 2004.
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They played each other 34 times between 1990 and that relegation 22 years ago, but have faced off just 11 times since.
It's like the fixture never went away, though, with the two great rivals reviving old flames with the Whites now close to being called an established Premier League side once again.
Leeds are now standing up to Man United, too, who were light=years ahead of them before Marcelo Bielsa took the Yorkshire giants back to the big time six years ago. Before Sunday's game, many were talking of the Whites being favourites to win.
Alas, it ended in a 1-1 draw - a largely fair result - but some of the performances from Leeds hearkened back to the glory days at Elland Road before things all went pear-shaped in 2004.
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Lucas Radebe reincarnated in Leeds' draw vs Man United
There were plenty of strong performances to talk about among Leeds' players on Sunday.
However, not many were better than defender Nico Elvedi, who looked brilliant at the back as the Whites limited Man United to just three shots on target throughout the whole game.
Elvedi, 30, has quickly established himself as one of the first names on Daniel Farke's team sheet since his summer arrival from Borussia Monchengladbach, starting every Premier League fixture since his debut against Brentford on 30 August.
He's improving with pretty much each game that goes by, too, with his Lucas Radebe-esque display against Man United on Sunday being largely his best for the Yorkshire giants.
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David O'Leary once described Radebe as a defender with "great ability to read the game", with "good" distribution and "excellent" man-marking.
Elvedi showcased all that against Man United, with the Swiss international finishing the game with a match-high 91 per cent pass accuracy.
He also made more defensive actions (6) than any other Leeds player, with six clearances completed, both of his ground duels won and a 66 per cent success rate when challenging for the ball in the air nine times.
But the comparisons to Radebe don't stop there.
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Elvedi is 30 years old now and is starting to look as though he's enjoying some of the best football of his career in the Premier League.
Similar can be said about Radebe. While he did arrive at Elland Road from Kaizer Chiefs at the age of 25, it was when he reached his late-20s and early-30s where he really took off.
At the age of 29, he was named Leeds' player of the year and became club captain.
One year later, he led the Whites to a third-place finish in the Premier League and the year after that, he was playing in the Champions League semi-finals.
Radebe was a leader, a great defender and very comfortable with the ball at his feet.
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Elvedi has all those characteristics too and while we're not expecting him to lead the Whites to the last four of the Champions League in the next couple of years, he definitely can play a role in taking this great club back to Europe.
