The controversial career of Marcelo Bielsa, the Leeds United manager

Marcelo Bielsa is synonymous with revolution in England. After achieving promotion with Leeds United after 16 years without being in the Premier League, the highest division of that country, the fans made him an idol. This is revealed by the El Espectador media, which highlighted that the technical director is considered one of the most important characters for the fans.

We even saw recently that the La Nación website highlighted that they inaugurated a street to immortalize the DT champion with the team, which is known as the “Marcelo Bielsa way”. Against this background, we decided to find out some of the peculiarities of this Argentine technical director, as eccentric and revered as he is criticized.

Marcelo Bielsa, a life of madness

The first thing we must say is that the signing of Marcelo Bielsa by Leeds implied a bet on the future . We can see this, according to the Infobae website, in the particularities that occurred in most of the signings. That is, they all share one characteristic: they are players with a huge projection, due to their low age.

In other words, he not only tried to generate an idea for the game, but also to bet on a project that could be sustained even without his presence. It was clear that the fans wanted promotion, but also that it was important to be able to build a team that had a game identity, as well as an unmistakable style in terms of politics.

His own managers highlight his enormous role in achieving not only victories, but also a particular way of seeing football. For example, the Spanish goalkeeper, Kiko Casilla, stressed that the Argentine DT is "the key to the project", since it would not have worked if he had not been present.

In addition, his entire career with the English team was undermined by controversy. One of them occurred, as Marca describes, in an "incredible fair-play gesture" that he had in one of the games of the first season, something that happened in a match against Aston Villa, due to promotion to the Premier .

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In that game, Leeds had been ahead on the scoreboard, although that goal came when a player from the rival team was lying on the ground by a blow. Immediately, the Rosario told his team to let the other team score, leading to a draw. 

In other words, he not only generated an unmistakable style of play, characterized by offense and constant pressure, but also with a philosophy of life. It is for this reason that, as Page 12 highlights, he and his team won the Fair Play award. However, he also had some controversies that were not considered positive.

The El Confidencial website highlighted that, in a match against Derby County, he decided to send a person to spy on the training of this team. When they found out about this situation, the manager apologized, as he understood the anger of the rival technical director, Frank Lampard, after he had criticized him.

Therefore,  we are talking about a controversial and flamboyant personality, who has a large number of fans  who will be looking to get a good season in the English first division. For the moment, he managed to captivate the hearts of all his followers in that country, although it remains to be seen if he can continue to make the world fall in love.