Still the only Brazilian manager to ever be in charge of a Premier League side, Luiz Felipe Scolari continues having a lot to say about his time at Chelsea.
The 2002 World Cup winner took the job at the Blues at the start of the 2008/09 season, and only stayed for seven months, failing to make it to the end of that campaign.
There’s been a specific topic Scolari had to discuss with DAZN Brasil this week, and that’s Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers.
The Foxes’ boss used to be an assistant coach at Chelsea, and Scolari had big compliments to make about him.
“I feel a little sad because I think we were doing a good job. Some things happened that caused us to have a small problem with one or two players,” Scolari told DAZN.
Rodgers, however, left the Blues in November 2018, only four months after Scolari took the job. The Brazilian claims it could have been different had he stayed.
“I don’t know, Renato, I don’t know if my departure from Chelsea, the way it happened… I don’t know if Brendan was there, I would have left.”
Asked by reporter Renato Senise about what Rodgers’ job at Chelsea was, Scolari explained his importance in their work.
“We talked, set up the training session and everything. And he had a knowledge of the players’ personality. And then he had even greater feedback from the athletes than I. Technical part, tactical part before the games. Because he knew more about English clubs than I did.
“If we were going to discuss something in terms of South America, at the time, he had information from South America. He was really a spectacular assistant.”
Scolari now claims to be a fan of Rodgers’ job at Leicester City, saying he still watches his former assistant in charge of the Foxes.
“Today I am very happy with Brendan. Because I see Leicester’s games, for example, ‘look, it’s Brendan, look, it’s Brendan’. Leicester know how the opposing team plays. A basic idea that I remember from Brendan. I believe that Brendan is going the right way to becoming one of the greatest coaches in the world.”
