How Marcelo Bielsa made Atlas Guadalajara Mexico’s top academy in the 1990s | OneFootball

Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa has plenty at stake against Spain in Guadalajara on Friday. According to L'Équipe, the city also recalls how he reshaped Atlas in the 1990s.

Fresh from coming a penalty away from the 1992 Copa Libertadores with Newell’s Old Boys, he was courted by Atlas Guadalajara, a popular yet modest club. He prioritised building structure over results.

On arrival he asked to run the academy for a year instead of the first team. He built a wide scouting network, trialling 11,000 youngsters, and turned a room at home into a VHS study base.

Academy director José Luis Real recalls a three-year plan, methodical teaching and a blend of science and empiricism that sharpened players and coaches. The process took hold despite the workload.

After a year Bielsa took the first team with bold, attacking football in a city long dominated by Chivas. Pavel Pardo emerged, and Jared Borgetti earned his chance after being spotted in trials.

Borgetti says Bielsa set demanding analysis tasks and taught him to understand the game. He later stood as Mexico’s leading scorer on 46 goals between 2007 and 2017, before Javier Hernandez overtook him.

The second season flagged, and in January 1995 Bielsa asked to return to the academy, but the board refused, so he left abruptly for Club América with limited success. His legacy endured as Rafael Marquez and Andrés Guardado debuted soon after, and locals still associate him with a recognisable style and an academy once renowned nationwide, whose shine faded with time.

Source: L'Équipe