Why Marcelo Bielsa's Lazio reign was CRAZY
11In the early 20th century, Marcelo Bielsa was outed as one of the great footballing minds from the dugout.
He had coached Newell’s Old Boys to success and to the brink of the Copa Libertadores in 1992 and had a measure of success with Velez Sarsfield at the end of the 90s.
In the 2000s, though, he took to international management: taking Argentina to two finals in 2004 – winning the Gold Medal in Athens but losing the Copa America to Brazil earlier that summer.
He returned Chile to the world stage, cementing foundations for their successes in the Copa America.
But by 2011 he had left South America, with a number of clubs hoping to have him on their radar.
He declined Serie A club Inter Milan for Athletic Club and via a spell at Marseille where he almost launched them to the Ligue 1 title, Bielsa was back in the frame for a management role in Serie A.
He was Lazio manager in the summer of 2011. For all of two days.
Marcelo Bielsa demanded that four players be signed ahead of the first day of pre-season, a notoriously spendthrift Lotito had signed none. Lotito had saved the club from certain doom, writing off over €100m in debt, but succeeded a popular title-winning owner in Sergio Cragnotti.
Bielsa wanted Marcos Llorente, Emanuel Mammana, Jeremy Morel, Rodrigo Caio, Jean Beausejour and Pato. With none arriving, Bielsa quit and Simone Inzaghi would be brought back after an interim spell and finally returned Lazio to the Champions League.
#Bielsa #Lazio #SerieA
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Voice: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Illustrations: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Words: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Edit: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
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