Alert. Marcelo Bielsa is worried. From the training field you see that a man has arrived. His order had been blunt: no one enters while the practice lasts. Door closed for all. Without exceptions.
Newell's was leader in the table, championship of 90, a season that marks the debut of Marcelo as a coach. Obsessive always with the details, that time he had to control himself before the contempt of his instruction.
The man who had entered was a journalist. He did not know that the access was restricted, but as in the club they knew him and he visited them more in friendly terms than in his role as a press, they let him in.
He and an employee invited some mates on the sidelines of the court, oblivious to the practice. They talked for a while about trivial things, then about the game that was coming and the immediate future of the team, the possibility of seeing Newell's champion again. Then he retired without further ado.
"What was he doing there?" It was Bielsa on the phone. He listened anxiously, more restless than annoyed. The employee apologized. He assured him that the journalist had only visited, that he had not done any work. "Do not say anything about what you saw."
Marcelo, who since then spied on his rivals, knew that he could also be spied on. One can doubt his ability as a strategist, but it is impossible to do so from his professional ethic: he is obsessed with details, we said at the beginning.
The employee was intrigued. That training seemed like one, what was it then that kept as a state secret? He dared to ask him. When he knew the answer he did not give credit.
Marcelo made him swear not to say anything, and then he answered in a calmer tone: "We were testing 22 variants of lateral throw in attack". Obsessive with the details.
That season Newell's was champion.