Marcelo Bielsa may have left the Chilean national team in 2010, but he certainly hasn’t forgotten about the country which employed him for over three years.
This Saturday, the local TV hosted Teleton, a charity show which is very popular in South America. They gather several artists to perform, and use all the audience to ask for donations for different causes.
These donations are done by viewers or by rich people who go to the show and deliver those huge checks, in all that circus we’re used to seeing on Latin TV.
Now this edition had a different donation, which was a Leeds United shirt. It was sent from England by Marcelo Bielsa himself, who autographed it and asked for it to be auctioned.
Journalist Jorge Gomez, who took care of the shirt, explained how Bielsa managed to deliver the gift in time.
“We got in touch with him and made the management to bring this Leeds United jersey to add to the auction. It’s incredible that it arrived in time because by official terms (going through the postal system and customs) it would have taken two more weeks,” said Gomez (via La Cuarta).
“He paid from his pocket so that the shipment was as expeditious as possible, otherwise his arrival could not have been achieved and this only shows the affection he still has for Chile.”
La Cuarta reports that the auction for the Leeds United shirt quickly raised over 750 thousand Chilean Pesos (£880) and was part of 40 other items sold.
