Marcelo Bielsa is widely regarded as one of the smartest tactical minds in football and has been praised by some of the best managers around for how brilliantly he tends to set up his team.
Bielsa is a fearless gaffer, who transmits a similar energy around his team, ensuring that they play exciting, attacking football and never tweak their style against any opponent.
The Argentine gaffer had made a significant mark on the Leeds United faithful during his memorable years at the club.
Marcelo Bielsa always had time for Leeds fans
He not only revolutionised their entire playing style, making them go with a forward-thinking, attack-minded approach for every game – but also helped them get promoted to the Premier League after a lengthy period in the Championship.
Unfortunately, Bielsa got sacked as Leeds’ boss in 2022 after their poor 2021/22 season that saw them entangled in a relegation battle.
To his credit, the Argentine gaffer was surprisingly graceful with his sacking and has shown no real bitterness towards the club ever since.
After spending a year or so resting up in his personal life, Bielsa was appointed as the manager of the Uruguay national team in May 2023.
Not only that, but the Uruguayan football federation also convinced him to take up the managerial responsibilities for their under-23 team as well.
Despite his age, the 68-year-old has now dedicated his time to scouting promising talents in Uruguay in the hunt to find some underrated gems that are thriving inside the country.
He mostly stays in Uruguay and loves travelling to watch league games or matches involving the younger teams too.
Recently, Bielsa surprised a lot of fans by attending a match at the 10,000-seater Estadio Parque Capurro in Montevideo.
This is the home of Uruguay Primera Division side Centro Atletico Fenix, who are currently lingering in 14th place in the league table.
He decided to pop out of nowhere to watch Atletico Fenix in their key league game against title hopefuls Penarol.
But rather than demand for him to get a private space to watch the game or sit in the VIP seats, Bielsa proved himself as the man of the masses by turning up to sit among the home fans.
Now, the Estadio Parque Capurro doesn’t exactly have the most ‘world class’ facilities and instead, most of the stands are concrete seating with padded seats attached to it.
That means fans do not get any back support and have to sit upright in one single position for the entirety of matches.
Despite that, Bielsa decided to come and sit in those stands to get a proper view of the match from close range.
Of course, fans soon recognized the Uruguay national team coach and he ended up being mobbed by the supporters once the game finished.
The Argentine gaffer did not show any signs of frustration and happily posed for pictures and even signed autographs for whoever wanted to interact with him.
Bielsa has, of course, become quite popular in Uruguay after helping the national team excel ever since taking over the job.
He has won six of the eight matches managed for the Uruguayan national team so far, only losing once. He’s even guided the Uruguay side to win four of their first six 2026 World Cup qualifier games, including wins over Argentina and Brazil.
As a result, Bielsa has even been nominated for the 2023 South America Manager of the Year award. Despite all his achievements, the 68-year-old manager is still well aware of his humble roots.
He has maintained his reputation for being a man of the people and continues showing a love for the beautiful game that can make the most hardcore football fans envious.
