Leeds United: Jermaine Beckford v Luciano Becchio - Who was better? | OneFootball

FLW compare Jermaine Beckford and Luciano Becchio's time at Leeds United - was there a better player out of the two?

Leeds United have had many cult heroes pass through the doors at Elland Road, and have a particular affiliation with their strikers, having had numerous top-quality centre-forwards over the years.

Many of them have come during their long exile outside English football's top-flight, including the likes of Chris Wood and Ross McCormack during recent Championship seasons, but few made more of an impact at Elland Road than Jermaine Beckford and Luciano Becchio.

Leeds paired Beckford with Becchio at the beginning of the 2008/09 season, with the pair notching a combined 52 goals as the Whites reached the League One play-offs. They then followed that up in the following season, with Beckford (31 goals) and Becchio (17 goals) helping fire Leeds get back into the Championship at the third time of asking.

Those three years were the first and only time that the club had dropped into the third tier in their history, but that striking duo made playing at the level far more palatable. Both achieved cult hero status for the Whites for scoring huge goals in games of such importance. Beckford has notched two incredibly famous goals in Leeds' recent history.

He bagged the winner against Bristol Rovers when Leeds were down to ten-men to gain promotion on the final day of the 2009/10 season. However, few of Beckford's goals, if any, are more notorious than his winner against Leeds' historic rivals, Manchester United, in the FA Cup in 2010.

Meanwhile, Becchio is most well known for a goal the year prior in what was another play-off campaign for the Whites, with a semi-final strike against Millwall at Elland Road, which remains a popular goal among supporters, despite them crashing out on aggregate.

He also bagged the opening goal of their Championship return, after Beckford had already departed the club, which would be one of many to come for Leeds in the second tier. However, who was the better player? We take a look, here...

Jermaine Beckford's time at Leeds United

After signing from Wealdstone, Beckford spent four years at the West Yorkshire outfit — helping them reach the League One play-offs twice and eventually firing them to automatic promotion to the Championship in 2010. The striker left to join Premier League side Everton the following summer but is fondly remembered at Elland Road, having scored 85 times in his 152 appearances for Leeds.

Beckford had to spend time on loan with Scunthorpe United and Carlisle United at first, but took his chance with Leeds with both hands when it came. He helped the Whites reach the League One play-offs in back-to-back years before firing them to automatic promotion in the 2009/10 season with that famous final-day goal.

He is now a regular pundit on Sky Sports for Leeds' Championship fixtures, given how fondly he is remembered at Elland Road. Not only that, but he is directly involved in the media team for Leeds, as one of the ex-pros to take part with LUTV's coverage. All of which points to his character and personality being something Leeds fans bought into quickly.

The most famous moment, which wrote him into Leeds folklore forever, came against Sir Alex Ferguson's side. It had once been a regular top-flight fixture, but 42 league places separated the two clubs following the West Yorkshire outfit's dramatic fall from grace when they played them on January 4th 2010.

However, Simon Grayson's side showed real class when Beckford latched on to a long forward pass from Jonny Howson to notch the winner against the Premier League champions. Incredibly, Man United had never before lost in the third round of the Cup - or been knocked out of it by a lower-division side - during Ferguson's 23-year reign as manager.

The striker enjoyed an outstanding spell in the third tier for Leeds, scoring at least 20 goals in all three of the seasons he played for them at that level. His time at the club was crowned with promotion back to the Championship to end his career there in fitting fashion.

Above all, Beckford was a natural finisher, and his goal-scoring efforts for Leeds earned him a move to Premier League club Everton in the summer of 2010. After swapping Elland Road for Goodison Park in 2010, he scored 10 goals in 40 appearances for Everton before going on to play for a number of other clubs in the EFL, including Leicester City, Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers.

Leeds fans will be delighted that they got to witness the best of Beckford as he cemented his name in the club's history books, but they never got to see one of their most prolific talismanic figures in recent memory play for them in the league that he fired them up into, which has come as a real shame.

The forward scored five times during Leeds' run to the fourth round of the FA Cup that season, including netting twice against Tottenham to earn a replay, but none of those topped the winner at Old Trafford. Undoubtedly, his most popular and famous moment comes in the clip below:

Becchio quickly became a cult-hero during Leeds' years in the wilderness of the EFL for much of the last 20 years. In his first season in League One, the Argentine centre-forward notched 15 goals and an assist in 45 games, and was perhaps somewhat outshone by Beckford, but what he would go onto achieve perhaps eclipsed his strike partner.

After coming through the ranks in his native Argentina with giants Boca Juniors, Becchio eventually moved to Spain and played for the likes of Barcelona B, Mallorca B, and Terrassa. That was before he made more of a name for himself with Merida in the Segunda Division B, scoring 27 times in 52 games over two seasons.

Merida finished fourth and qualified for the division play-offs against Ponferradina, but lost on aggregate over two legs. However, Becchio's performances during the campaign didn't go unnoticed, and he became the most saleable asset for the debt-stricken club after being monitored by scouts from across Europe.

It was Leeds who then took him on trial in 2008, with Gary McAllister taking a look at the 24-year-old in pre-season friendlies against Shelbourne and Barnet. He was recommended to Leeds scout Gwyn Williams by former Spanish Newcastle defender Marcelino.

Although his best didn't come in League One, often playing as the selfless striker to facilitate Beckford running off the shoulder and in behind, Becchio established himself as one of the most formidable marksmen in the Championship after Beckford's departure.

He would start as the primary centre-forward as a lone striker, scoring 20 goals and collecting another nine assists in 44 games in all competitions, as Leeds finished seventh upon their return to the second tier.

Over the course of the next few years, the Whites' promotion-winning side would be slowly dismantled, and the likes of Bradley Johnson, Jonny Howson, and Robert Snodgrass would all switch from Leeds to Norwich City, sparking somewhat of a situational and temporary rivalry between the two clubs.

Becchio remained for a time with Leeds despite his side tumbling down the table over the coming seasons, and he continued to score at a frightening rate, even without some key players supplying him, and long after Grayson's sacking at the club. Most of his former players were successful in their move to Norfolk, but Becchio's switch was far less of a success when it inevitably came.

He had scored 19 in just half a season before the Canaries picked him up, with Ken Bates deciding to cash-in again. That wasn't before Becchio had become as much of a goal machine as Beckford had, except this was in the Championship with a weaker supporting cast around him relative to the team Leeds had in League One, making his exploits all the more impressive.

"Becchio well-placed" remains etched into the minds of many Leeds fans to this day, and that famous night against Millwall at Elland Road is up there among any other in recent memory:

In terms of iconic moments, it's hard to look past Beckford, but Becchio's exploits in the Championship perhaps give him the edge, having had greater longevity and being part of a team that established themselves back at second tier level.

They are incredibly difficult to split, and are almost the exact same age, so peaked at strangely different times in their respective Leeds careers. However, most Leeds fans welcome the pair back at Elland Road with equal amounts of love and affection.

They are inseparable in so many ways, which is seen currently as they reunite to share memories of their time together at Leeds at various venues around Leeds and the UK recently, including with Ben Parker.