Recommended for you
In his first season, players like Raphinha, Patrick Bamford, Kalvin Phillips, Stuart Dallas, Jack Harrison and Luke Ayling became household names due to their never say die attitude on the pitch. In their first match back in the EPL, they played out a 4-3 loss to Liverpool which signalled their intent. They would ultimately finish 9th with a famous 1-2 win against the mythical Manchester City, a match where Bielsa’s team were down to 10 men. Bielsa ball had well and truly arrived in the top tier of English football.
FILE – Leeds United’s head coach Marcelo Bielsa during the English Premier League soccer match between Leeds United and Liverpool at Elland Road in Leeds, England, Sunday, Sept.12, 2021. Bielsa has been appointed on Thursday, May 11, 2023, as the new head coach of the Uruguay national soccer team. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)
The players were relentless, pressing high up the pitch and snapping at the opponents’ heels like pitbulls in order to get the ball back. That season, you could not put Leeds away without a fight.
A hard taskmaster, Bielsa’s training methods are the stuff of legends. He famously or infamously introduced the concept of Murderball. The training method was nicknamed as such by the Leeds players due to its intense nature. In Murderball, the players are divided into two teams and they play a match but there’s a catch. The match is bereft of stoppage with no throw-ins, free kicks with the ball being put back in play immediately.
The gruelling nature took its toll in the next season after the high of the first season had subsided. Leeds were ravaged with injuries due to the demands of the Premier League coupled with Bielsa’s intense methods with the club dangling at the edge of relegation. Bielsa was asked to leave and was replaced by American Jesse Marsch who hinted that the intense training sessions might have played a part in the litany of injuries which ultimately derailed Leeds’ season.
“The injury issue had a lot to do with the training methodologies. The players were overtrained. It led to them being physically, mentally, psychologically, and emotionally in a difficult place to recover from week to week, from game to game,” Marsch had said to TalkSport after taking charge.
Advertisement 
Marcelo Bielsa ended Leeds United’s 16-year exile from the Premier League. (Source: File)
Even though it is typical for a Bielsa team to implode during his second or third season in any league, you can’t deny the man’s genius. Before the revolution at Leeds, he had managed a Chile team where his stay has been engraved in the modern folklore of the country.
He was the mastermind behind improving a below par training facility for the Chile national team which would start the foundation of a squad which would go on to win the Copa America in 2015 and 2016.
The likes of Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal and Gary Medel were integrated in the team which completely transformed the conservative approach of the team. They would become more attacking and fluid. Instead of sitting back, Bielsa had imbibed them with an attitude where they believed they could go toe to toe with any team in the world. This ultimately led to their very first victory over Bielsa’s native Argentina in 2008. Under him, Chile also qualified for the 2010 World Cup, their first since the 1998 edition.
Advertisement
They would ultimately be eliminated in the Round of 16 to Brazil but the confidence that Bielsa instilled in the team would take Chile a long way in future tournaments.
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa admitted to spying on all Championship teams. (Reuters)
Between his stints at Chile and Leeds, Bielsa would coach Spanish side Athletic Bilbao in 2011-12, taking them to a Europa League final. The next season with their performances faltering due to varied reasons, Bielsa would be given his marching orders. He would next have the briefest of stints with Marseille and Lazio before managing Lille. His contract would be terminated and then he would come to manage the Leeds outfit. The rest they say is history.
Also Read
While You Were Asleep: Inter beat Milan 1-0 to reach CL final, Ronaldo ke…
Vinicius and De Bruyne UCL strikes part of a bigger picture?
'She thinks she's on a par with him': Cristiano Ronaldo unlikely to marry…
Lionel Messi returns to Barcelona with his family… and 15 suitcases
Now, Bielsa has been appointed the coach of the Uruguay national team after the country’s dismal performance at the 2022 World Cup. Can El Loco turn Uruguay around or will we watch another stint with another team end in a premature manner? Only time will tell as we head towards what could be the dawn of a new resurgent Latin American revolution.
