Bielsa has taken to life at Leeds, guiding them to third in the Championship table.
Champions League winner Diego Milito has told Italian outlet CalcioMercato that Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa was more important to his career than Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho.
Now 39, Milito was handed his Argentina debut by Bielsa 15 years ago in January 2003 despite still playing for Racing Club in his home country, in which the powerful striker scored as Argentina beat Honduras 3-1.
Milito only worked with Bielsa for less than two years, as the latter left his post as Argentina manager at the end of 2005 after five years in the role. Despite that, Milito believes it was Bielsa that was crucial to his career.
Milito went on to play for Genoa, Real Zaragoza and then Inter Milan where he worked under Mourinho and although he thinks the United boss is one of the best, Milito reckons Bielsa was the most important.
“I learned something from every manager I had,” Milito said. “I had great managers in Argentina and in Italy and Mourinho was definitely one of the best one.
“The more important, however, was Bielsa who gave me the chance to play with the national team and taught me many things, tactically and technically.”
Milito went on to shine at Genoa, whom he joined soon after he made his debut under Bielsa, scoring 34 goals in 62 games before moving to Zaragoza where he continued his 1-in-2 ratio with 61 strikes in 125 outings.
His move to Inter saw him become somewhat of a legend at the Giuseppe Meazza, though, spending five years at the club with the highlight being Inter’s treble win of 2009-10 – the Serie A, Champions League and Coppa Italia.
In that season, Milito scored 30 goals in 52 games – his most in one season. He returned to Racing towards the end of his career before retiring in 2016, aged 37.
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