Liam Cooper makes Man City admission but offers Leeds United encouragement and eyes reward

Jesse Marsch’s Whites will take in their final mid-season break friendly at home to AS Monaco this evening, seven days before the return to league action after the World Cup with the visit of Pep Guardiola’s defending champions and odds-on title favourites. Cooper admits Leeds will be taking on arguably the best team in the world – but has been left encouraged by United’s displays in their previous winter friendlies. Leeds followed up a victory in a match behind closed doors against Preston North End with a 2-1 triumph against Spanish hosts Elche and then saw off visiting Real Sociedad by the same score on Friday night. Cooper says his side now face another tough test against a Monaco side sat sixth in Ligue 1 but the Whites skipper says the test will stand his men in good stead come the return to Premier League action against City.

"We are looking forward to facing another very good European side in AS Monaco, which will be a good experience for us,” wrote Cooper in his programme column. “It’s always great to test yourself against top players, especially when you’re preparing to face arguably the best team in the world. The last few weeks have been really positive, everyone has been working hard and hopefully we’ll be rewarded in the second half of the season off the back of it.”

Cooper added: “We were all looking forward to playing at Elland Road again last Friday after six weeks away, especially under the lights. It was good for everyone to get more minutes against Real Sociedad. Naturally, when you don’t play for a couple of weeks, you can be a bit rusty, but over the course of these friendly games I think our match sharpness has continued to improve.”