Marcelo Bielsa has won his English bet! For his second year at the helm of Leeds United, the 64-year-old Argentinian technician managed to bring this legendary club up – triple champion of England (1969, 1974 and 1992 with Eric Cantona) and finalist of the Champions Club Cup in 1975 – in the Premier League? 16 years after leaving it. Thanks to his results and his spectacular playing philosophy, the former OM coach (2014-2015) and Lille (2017) is revered by the supporters of the Yorkshire club. “El Loco” (the madman in Spanish) has a very particular reputation because it is adulated by some and others find it overpriced. The opportunity to return to three things to know about this very special trainer.
1. Chile wished to naturalize it
Coach of Chile from 2007 to 2011, Marcelo Bielsa is adored by the Chilean public. So much so that the government of that country then offered him naturalization, which the latter refused. He said it would not be “honest” with Chile and Argentina. At the time of Chile’s victory in Copa America in 2015, led by Jorge Sampaoli, many Chileans thanked Marcelo Bielsa. Jorge Sampaoli, his disciple, who then coached Sevilla FC and then the Argentinian selection at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, confided to himself listening to “fourteen hours a day” the “master” Bielsa.
2. He inspired the greatest
Despite a not very extensive track record (three Argentinian championships and a gold medal at the Olympic Games with Argentina in 2004), Marcelo Bielsa was a little mentor of the greatest coaches on the planet through his training techniques and his sense of play. Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City coach who went through Barça, says of him that he is the “best coach in the world”. Diego Simeone, the technician of Atlético de Madrid, sees him as “a genius” and the former intériste Javier Zanetti considers that it is “the coach that any player would like to have, it is the best that I have had “.
“El Loco” has great admiration for the Dutchman Louis van Gaal and his intransigent methods. Ajax, whom he had trained, is thus, according to Bielsa, the best-built and most intelligent team he has ever seen playing …
3. Villas-Boas had given its name to Labrune in 201
André Villas-Boas, the coach of Olympique de Marseille, undoubtedly played an important role in the arrival of Marcelo Bielsa in the Marseille club in 2014. At the time, he had met with Marseille president Vincent Labrune who was looking for a trainer. Villas-Boas then told him that he was going to Argentina to “talk football with Marcelo Bielsa”. “Perhaps this exchange with Vincent Labrune and then my trip to Argentina will have led to the start of discussions between OM and Bielsa,” said the Portuguese. The latter did not fail to greet his mentor, this Friday, after the officialization of the ascent of Leeds in the Premier League, by sending him a message via his Instagram account. “Congratulations professor,” he wrote on an old photo of the two coaches, arm in arm, arm in arm.
