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Tom Coates

'Love couldn't stop the goodbye' - Argentina's media react to Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United exit

If Marcelo Bielsa's departure from Leeds United has proven anything, it is that he has a place in the hearts of the Elland Road faithful.

Social media has been flooded with tributes to the 66-year-old, who guided the club to the Championship title in 2020 before steering them into the top half of the Premier League.

He is also adored in his native Argentina, where he cut his teeth both as a player and coach.

LeedsLive have rounded up what has been said about his Elland Road exit in the Argentine press.

All quotes translated by Google Translate.

'Even the most beautiful love stories also come to an end'

For Argentine newspaper Ole, Cecilia Cinalli insisted Bielsa's tenure at Leeds encouraged Argentines to wake up 'at any time' on weekends to watch the Whites.

Cinalli wrote: "Even the most beautiful love stories also come to an end. After more than three and a half years of an idyll that began in the Championship and ended with the return to the Premier League after 16 seasons, and with an almost dream championship on the return, the poor results were wearing down this relationship that seemed unbreakable and finally this Sunday Leeds United officially announced the dismissal of Marcelo Bielsa.

"The news did not surprise, the end seemed sung after what was the 0-4 loss against Tottenham [Hotspur] at Elland Road. Not specifically because of the win against and at home, but because of the accumulation of bad results for the [El] Loco team, which had an end of January and a February to forget.

"After what was that already distant 3-2 victory against West Ham as a visitor, came the six games without wins, with five defeats and a draw, which precipitated the end of the link. The end of that relationship, which led many Argentines and Bielsa fans around the world to add Leeds to the list of must-see weekend games, to get up at any time on a Saturday or Sunday to follow the adventure of Loco , first in the endless Championship and then in the Premier [League]."

'The Loco is still the same Loco from Newell's'

Another Argentine outlet, Infoebae, covered the heart-warming story of Bielsa calling up a dying woman to chat with her, which was revealed by her son on social media.

They stated that the gesture confirmed he was 'the same Loco from Newell's [OId Boys]'.

Infobae's Pablo Cavallero wrote: "The numbers will say that Marcelo Bielsa led Leeds United through three and a half tournaments, that he led them in 170 official matches, with 80 wins, 33 draws and 57 losses. In 152 games he had more ball than the rival. And promoted him to the Premier League after 16 years of opprobrium.

"But behind the curtain of statistics, of the ungrateful argument of the emergencies that ejected him from the bench of substitutes of the club that he helped to resurface, there are attitudes, gestures that confirm that, at 66, the Loco is still the same Loco from Newell's . And that they will not allow him to become a disposable idol in the hearts of the inhabitants of Elland Road after his farewell."

'An ending that was inevitable'

La Nacion insisted the ending of the relationship between Leeds and Bielsa was inevitable, claiming 'love could not stop the goodbye'.

La Nacion 's Diego Morini wrote:

"An ending that was inevitable. An outcome that no one wanted, but that could not be postponed. Love could not stop the goodbye. And perhaps, as rarely in football, a dismissal announcement in which all parties lament the determination, can be accepted as credible.

"It is that the union of Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa was so significant...

"A team that, thanks to the Argentine coach, returned to the English top flight and found a respect that it had only enjoyed in already rusty times."

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