Luis Suarez had to comfort distraught Darwin Nunez after former Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa made him cry
Today at 11:31 AM
Luis Suarez has further exposed Marcelo Bielsa’s controversial methods since taking charge of the Uruguay national team.
On the TV show ‘De futbol se habla asi’, Suarez outlined how Bielsa had created a divide between the players and staff involved in the Uruguayan national team set-up.
“At the Celeste Complex, employees are not allowed to come in and greet us and eat with us,” Suarez said.
“They have to be careful even at the door they have to enter. It breaks my heart that this is how life is in the Complex today.”
The tension extended between Bielsa and the playing group, as Suarez lifted the lid on how the former Leeds boss criticised Darwin Nunez to the point where the Liverpool striker became emotional.
The incident occurred at half time of Uruguay’s 2026 World Cup qualifier against Argentina in November last year.
Bielsa’s side took a 1-0 lead into the half time break at La Bombanera in Buenos Aires, but he was not happy with Nunez’s output and let him know about it.
Suarez, who was on the bench for the match, took it upon himself to comfort Nunez and remind him of his brilliance.
“I saw Darwin crying and I told him, ‘You are here because of your own merit, because of how hard you work. You are a goalscorer and you are the best,'” Suarez said.
“‘You have to continue like this, forget what others say. Wash your face, go out and break it.'”
Nunez went on to score Uruguay’s second in the 87th minute to cap off an improved display and immediately raced over to celebrate with Suarez.
However, Suarez claimed Bielsa felt his half-time criticism of Nunez was what fired him up and not the former Barcelona striker’s gentle touch.
“After the victory, Bielsa greeted me and said, ‘Do you know what happens?'” Suarez said.
“‘If I don’t talk to him like that… you saw what he ran in the second half.'”
Suarez is no longer around in the national team set-up to provide further mid-game pep talks to Nunez having retired from international football in September.
The former Liverpool marksman departed as Uruguay’s all-time leading goalscorer with 69 goals in 143 games and is the nation’s second-most capped player behind Diego Godin.
But before Suarez called time on his international career, he had one final conversation with Bielsa in a bid to rebuild the culture within the team that had been eroded.
“I had a five-minute chat with Bielsa, speaking as a group leader, and at the end he only replied, ‘Thank you very much,'” Suarez said.
