Why the Leeds rivalry increases the pressure

It runs very deep, some would argue originating from the War of the Roses and the animosity between Lancashire and Yorkshire, and any excursion across the Pennines to Elland Road is one done recognising the challenge of playing on enemy territory.

Ever since Leeds came to Bank Street and won 3-0 in 1906, there has been some spice about the fixture and it will be a hostile environment facing Ruben Amorim's men for the 12:30 GMT kick-off this weekend.

United (even saying that will anger Leeds supporters) are unbeaten in our last 25 league outing against promoted sides, winning 22 of those games, since a defeat at Watford proved to be Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's final match in charge.

We have also lost just one of our last 19 Premier League games against the Yorkshiremen, that defeat coming in September 2002.

Yet there must be an acceptance that this will be a test of the Reds' mettle, against a team in good form.

While Sunderland have been the pick of the top-flight new boys in 2025/26, Leeds are unbeaten in their last six fixtures, since conceding late on to lose 3-2 at Manchester City in late November.

Daniel Farke's Whites defeated Chelsea and drew twice with Liverpool during this period, looking relatively comfortable in the 0-0 stalemate at Anfield on New Year's Day.

While the decision to rest some players on Merseyside was no great surprise, with their date against United on the horizon, it did betray the importance of Sunday's match in the club's psyche. Even Dominic Calvert-Lewin was not involved until the 70th minute, and he was denied scoring for a seventh successive match by an offside flag late on.

This would have been the game every Leeds fan would have circled in the diary when the fixtures were released and the one they will be most up for. Elland Road is a difficult place to go for every side but that will definitely be the case for Ruben's men as we approach our first action of 2026.

Leeds were a top team in the late 1960s and early 1970s and had some real battles when the two Charltons were on different sides. An FA Cup semi-final loss at Bolton Wanderers' Burnden Park in 1970, in a second replay was tough to take. 

Don Revie's uncompromising team drew 2-2 with Chelsea in the final before a famous 2-1 replay triumph at Old Trafford. It was a night that helped firmly install the status of the club as one of the country's biggest, being watched by over 28 million TV viewers as the Yorkshiremen lifted the trophy for the first time in their history.

Leeds remained regular foes up until 1982, when they dropped out of Division One and the clubs did not meet again until the following decade.

However, when hostilities resumed, they did so with a bang. Two draws in the league preceded an explosive two-legged semi-final in the League Cup. Lee Sharpe and Brian McClair earned a 2-1 advantage from the Old Trafford clash, setting up a battle on Leeds' home turf a fortnight later.

United rode the storm and Sharpe, emerging triumphant from a personal duel with right-back Mel Sterland, danced in front of the away end after confirming a place at Wembley in the dying seconds. There is an image of the two players on the wall when you walk up to the press lounge for home games and the mind instantly switches back to that time, how, at least in our minds, flair had overcome belligerence.

A similar moment that flashes into your head is one of Ryan Giggs performing a rollback while David Batty lunges into a tackle and is completely foxed by the youngster's skill. It seemed to be shown a lot on TV in the opening montage to the live programmes and the 1991/92 term, the last before the Premier League, saw Alex Ferguson and Howard Wilkinson's teams scrap it out for the title.

With United second in the table, the two cup draws at the end of 1991 presented January away games away to the side at the summit, Leeds. Before the ties, the first of the trilogy of games, in Division One, ended 1-1 in West Yorkshire, with Neil Webb scoring our goal.

A 3-1 victory in the League Cup was followed by a slightly fortunate 1-0 win in the FA Cup third round, perhaps indicating Ferguson's men to be the better side but the repercussions were huge. While going on to win the League Cup, for the first time in our history, the greater prize, and ending the wait since 1967 for the title, slipped out of reach, during a fixture pile-up partially caused by the cup run.

Leeds won the trophy, doing so with a former Red influential in their midfield, in Gordon Strachan, echoing how Johnny Giles had been a key figure back in Revie's side.

Another man who helped them get over the line, after arriving in the January, was Eric Cantona but, in an act Leeds fans can never forget, he was sold to United in the following campaign and became the catalyst for our glorious spell of success. Scoring in a 4-0 win that signalled the end of Wilkinson's time as manager in 1996, he faced up to the torrent of abuse by celebrating in front of the home supporters 

His name will be sung loudly by the travelling Reds at the weekend and he will forever be associated with the rivalry.

More recently, we have enjoyed the upper hand at Elland Road. Although Harry Kewell's strike was the difference between the sides in September 2002, there have been five wins out of six, including a Roy Keane winner, a couple of cup victories, and successes by two-goal margins in 2022 and 2023.

There was a bore draw in 2021, that I was one of very few people to witness in person, that truly brought home just how much was missing from playing football behind closed doors during the Covid pandemic.

It had nothing of what this fixture is all about. Fire and brimstone, passion and rivalry, intense hostility and a challenge to be met by those in red shirts.

It will be more of the same on Sunday, and then some. Almost three years in waiting for the Leeds public, Ruben's side will be entering a cauldron of noise and emotion.

What a way to begin 2026!

The opinions in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Manchester United Football Club.