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Born in Rosario, Argentina, Bielsa comes from a family of educated minds, his brother works in politics and his sister is a famous architect.
Both professions require analytical thinking – a gift Bielsa acquired from an early age. However, he was attracted to football, not playing, but absorbing the tactics.
Every day he would send his mother to the local news agency to buy football magazines and newspapers, spending a lot of time reading as much as he could about how teams play and how different managers work.
Bielsa was still a talented but limited footballer. Defensive but lacks pace, he came through the youth system at boyhood club Newell’s Old Boys before a disappointing spell in the lower leagues of Argentine football saw him decide to focus his playing career on coaching at the age of 25.
His post-playing career began with the University of Buenos Aires soccer team, and after two years, he landed a position as Newell’s reserve team coach.
Bielsa’s frustration with his limitations as a player played a large part in his coaching philosophy, which was to ensure that every player he coached could get the most out of his potential.
The training sessions were intense, with a lot of focus on repetition – if a player doesn’t have the ability to do something naturally, he’s sure to get the routines into their head.
Bielsa was appointed Newell’s manager in 1990 and his tactics brought instant success as Argentina won the championship.
Bielsa followed a spell in Mexico before returning to Argentina to manage Velez Sarsfield in 1997. There he was dubbed ‘loco’ (crazy) when two teenagers tried to line up the centre-backs. However, he would have the last laugh as he promptly helped them win the league title.
Bielsa, who says his nickname ‘El Loco’ predates his time at Velez Sarsfield, was briefly manager of Spanish club Espanyol but left in 1998 when he was offered his first international post – as Argentina boss.
