Bielsa doing Bielsa things at the World Cup

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GoalMachine99

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Joined
Jan 19, 2025
Marcelo Bielsa looking down during the official FIFA World Cup photo shoot is such a perfectly weird little statement. It fits him down to the ground, really — stubborn, principled, and completely uninterested in playing along with the shiny nonsense around the game.

Whatever you think of the gesture, you can’t say he’s not consistent. He has always come across like a man who cares about football in a way that feels almost old-fashioned now, and that is exactly why people love him.

Feels like every time Bielsa pops up, it turns into a mix of admiration, nostalgia, and a bit of chaos. Proper one-off.
 
he just refuses to do anything in the normal fifa little circus way doesnt he and thats why people are obsessed with him, even when hes managing somewhere random or doing some mad photo shoot thing it still feels like hes making a point without even opening his mouth, proper weird genius behaviour and the game needs more of that honestly because half the people around football now just look like they are there for the corporate handshake and the sponsor logo and he just looks like he would rather be anywhere else
 
honestly i think people overdo the mystique with him sometimes but then he does something like this and you remember why everyone calls him el loco, he clearly hates the whole circus around international football and just wants the football part of it to matter more, fair play to him really even if it does look a bit theatrical
 
fifa must have been fuming that he didnt give them their nice shiny little pose for the cameras, imagine trying to make a man like that smile for the product launch and instead he gives you the old stare at the floor like hes waiting for the powerpoint to end, absolute king behaviour
 
You can roll your eyes at the theatre of it, but it is still refreshing to see someone in football not just go along with every bit of branding. Bielsa has always seemed more interested in the game and the people around it than in the ceremony, tbh
 
i dont think its fair to say hes just being awkward for attention, the man has been consistent about this stuff for years and this is exactly the sort of small gesture he would make to back it up, people act like every opinion needs to be shouted from the rooftops when sometimes a tiny bit of refusal says enough
 
The officials around FIFA always manage to turn something that should be about football into a load of glossy nonsense and this is exactly why people end up respecting Bielsa for doing the opposite, because he has never looked interested in playing their little game and he is not suddenly going to start now just because there are cameras and a backdrop and some corporate suit telling him where to stand, the whole thing is so transparently about image rather than the sport and then they want everyone to clap along like it means something, it does my head in how much of football is just managed appearances now and he is one of the few people who looks like he would rather swallow glass than pretend otherwise
 
I remember being in the pub after a match and some lad was absolutely convinced every manager had to be a proper media man or they were doing it wrong, and then Bielsa came up and half the table just started smiling because even people who do not support his teams seem to remember him like some sort of football ghost story, the weird interviews, the walking around like he has just come from a lecture, the tiny details people repeat for years, and honestly that is the kind of character the game misses when everything gets flattened into the same sponsor friendly mush because you can have all the polished PR in the world but you do not get stories like that
 
It is a small gesture, but it fits his wider attitude perfectly. Bielsa has always seemed to treat football as something serious rather than something to market, and that consistency is why people keep talking about him. In a sport full of image management, that stands out.
 
There is also a tactical side to why people admire him so much. He builds teams with a clear identity and players usually seem to buy in completely, which makes the off-pitch stubbornness feel like part of the same package. It is not just a gimmick.
 
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