Javier Zanetti played more than 1,000 matches across a 22-year career for club and country, sharing dressing rooms with generational talents and working under some of football's most consequential managers. Yet when asked which coach left the deepest mark, the Argentina and Inter Milan legend returns to one name: Marcelo Bielsa.

Bielsa took charge of Argentina in 1998 and handed Zanetti 52 international caps across six years at the helm. His methods — obsessive, demanding, and deeply unconventional — have been well-documented throughout his career, from his time with club football to a celebrated spell at Leeds United. For Zanetti, however, the impact went far beyond the tactical and the physical.

Reaching something deeper