A fan left the Belvedere Stadium in Uruguay with a story to tell the grandkids after he shared his umbrella with a soaking wet Marcelo Bielsa.
Earlier this week, TikTok user Shulay Cabrera was sat behind the hard-working Uruguay manager, who was on a scouting mission at the Clausura tournament in Montevideo.
Bielsa, being meticulous as ever, watched the much-anticipated clash between River Plate and Liverpool with intrigue as he prepares to name his next squad.
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But unlike many others in attendance, the former Athletic Bilbao and Leeds United manager was surprisingly under-prepared for a heavy downpour of rain as he watched the action unfold.
Thankfully though, the forward-thinking Shulay Cabrera was at hand to save the day.
As you can see from the footage below, Cabrera contemplated sitting next to Bielsa for a good while. “The man is getting wet," he said in the TikTok video.
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"For me, I have to go bring him the umbrella. He's getting wet, and he's our technician. I'm looking at him and thinking, 'How can the coach of our national team be without an umbrella?!'".
Cabrera eventually sat down next to Bielsa and said, "Marcelo, I think it's appropriate to come and place the umbrella.”
Bielsa, who was pleasantly surprised by the gesture, then joked: “What I'm going to tell you is, ‘What good company. Stay.’ But actually, I want the umbrella to stay!”
After the encounter, Cabrera would share some details about the wholesome 10 minute conversation.
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"I do not know where to start because as I said in the previous post, what you see in the video is a nice, smiling, chatty, friendly Marcelo; but what was not seen was even better," he said on Instagram.
"Under my umbrella we spent 10 minutes chatting and watching football. What else? CINEMA, haha. What he said in the video was real, 'STAY,' and I stayed. How can you not?
“Because we didn't just talk about him. He was interested in me. He wanted to know what I was doing, if I was a Liverpool fan, why was I there? And when I told him that I was a comedian, that I did humor on social networks, he said, 'And are you doing well in what you do?'".
Cabrera added: "After taking photos with fans in between, we shook hands. I said, 'Well Marcelo, a pleasure to have shared this moment with you,' I have a tremendous anecdote for barbecues."
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Bielsa, who agreed to become Uruguay manager in the summer, has transformed La Celeste since taking over.
After beating Brazil in October, they managed to overcome world champions Argentina last month as goals from Ronald Araujo and Darwin Nunez sealed a crucial 2-0 win in the World Cup qualifier.
Topics: Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds United, EFL Championship, Uruguay
Jack Kenmare