The South American media is today full of quotes from Paraguayan legend José Luis Chilavert.
The former goalkeeper, who’s always been a controversial figure, has spoken to Chilean outlet CDF and had some interesting stories to tell.
One of them was about Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa, who had been his boss at Argentine side Vélez Sarsfield between 1997 and 1998.
Chilavert has recalled the time when he stood up for his teammates and had an argument with the coach.
“One day he mistreated a teammate of mine, in front of the whole group. I came out in defence of my partner and told Bielsa everything, in his face. He separated me from the group and told me I’d regret it. When he got to the locker room, we spoke face to face again, where I told him everything I thought. The press never found out”, said Chilavert (via Ilustrado).
Chilavert didn’t mind making some heavy criticism from the manager, claiming that the players should be more important than his philosophy.
“Bielsa says that the system is above the player and it’s not. I believe the characteristic of the player is what will serve the coach to optimise the system. So if your goalkeeper doesn’t know how to play with his feet, it’s impossible to play with that system.”
This isn’t the first time Chilavert has gotten involved in controversies with figures from English football this year.
Not long ago, when Pablo Marí made a joke saying he didn’t know Vélez Sarsfield, the former goalkeeper took to Twitter to say the Arsenal defender ‘hadn’t won anything’, while the Argentine side were ‘world Champions’.
