The Marcelo Bielsa Stadium
Marcelo Bielsa…
An undeniably astute tactician and ultimate character of the game.
Whilst his trophy-cabinet isn’t as stacked as former mentee Pep Guardiola’s cabinet, Bielsa is still regarded as one of the greatest managers the game has ever seen.
This is largely down to his deployment of unique and somewhat unorthodox methods that have lead to admiration from notable figures involved in the game - none more so than Pep Guardiola himself.
The Spaniard met Bielsa before undertaking the role of head coach at Barcelona B and has since adopted elements of Bielsa’s philosophies and beliefs in how the game should be played.
“HE IS PROBABLY THE PERSON I ADMIRE THE MOST IN WORLD FOOTBALL - AS A MANAGER AND AS A PERSON”
Bielsa has been coaching for just over 4 decades and in that time has built up a CV featuring the likes of Argentina, Marseille, Lazio and Lille, before of course taking charge of an ambitious Leeds United side in 2018.
A club that I refrained from mentioning in that previous sentence, though, is the Argentinian outfit; Newell’s Old Boys. This is the club in which Marcelo Bielsa first cut his teeth as a coach, all the way back in the 1980’s, when he took charge of their youth team.
After 10 years as a youth coach for Newell’s, Bielsa eventually took charge of the first team, where he enjoyed instant success - winning league titles in 1991 and 1992.
As you can imagine, there is a certain bond between Bielsa and Newell’s Old Boys. A bond that could be described as the epitomy of football romanticism to the truest extent.
In 2009, Bielsa’s reputation as a coach skyrocketed, after he took the Chilean National Team to the World Cup finals for the first time in 12 years.
Hometown club Newell’s were so proud of Bielsa’s achievements that they decided to name their stadium after him, in what was a gesture towards the great man known globally as ‘El Loco.’
Newell’s club secretary at the time said this;
“THIS IS A GESTURE TOWARDS A PERSON WHO DID A LOT FOR THE CLUB AND TODAY CARRIES ITS NAME WITH PRIDE AROUND THE WORLD.”
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