Ten anecdotes to get to know Louis van Gaal, the indecipherable Holland coach

louis vangaal He is one of the great protagonists of the World Cup in Qatar. He is 71 years old, he was born in Amsterdam on August 8, 1951, a coaching career that has already exceeded 30 years and 20 titles under his belt. But what fascinates van Gaal most is that he is difficult to decipher: sometimes he is sympathetic and sometimes he is not. The celebrated coach, who has managed Ajax, Barcelona, ​​AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, is the perfect mix between Marcelo Bielsa and Daniel Alberto Passarella. With the Crazy they share a philosophy of play, they are lovers of the same tactical schemes, passionate about strategy and fieldwork; With the Kaiser the similarities are the order and discipline with which they have always led the groups. Like Passarella, van Gaal was annoyed by the long hair on the footballers, who didn’t wear their shirt tucked into their trousers, and also came across as tough with reporters.

You know: a nice way to get to know the characters is through stories told by third parties. Here we look at some of the anecdotes that paint Louis van Gaal perfectly.

1) The arrogant

Van Gaal, who was a moderate flying professional, began his coaching career as an assistant to Leo Beenhakker at Ajax during the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons. Real Madrid took Beenhakker last year and the Dutch managers had to go on the transfer market. They opted for an inexperienced and young van Gaal. “We took Van Gaal because we like arrogant people. Even Ajax are a bit like that”commented Ton Harmsen, the then president of the institution, during the official presentation. “Congratulations, you have signed the best manager in the world”the brand new DT greeted him.

2) The pain that runs through it

Van Gaal is usually a tough guy – that’s why he’s fought several heavyweights throughout his history. The coach appears as an unflappable and insensitive person. He repeated on several occasions the misfortunes he had to face. The first, the death of his father when he was 11 years old. And the strongest, undoubtedly, the death of his first wife, Fernanda Abbes, which took place in 1994. They had met in the 1970s, when he was 18 and she was 16; together they had two daughters, Brenda and Renate. A cancer took her away. According to what he said, there he cried for the last time in his life and abandoned Catholicism.

“When I lost Fernanda, that’s when I stopped believing in God and stopped being a Catholic. This God did not respect the human being and my wife’s suffering. I want nothing to do with a God who allows people to suffer so much“, he assured.

3) The comparison with Cruyff

There is nothing that puts van Gaal in a bad mood more than comparing him to Johan Cruyff. “My idol, my football father, has always been Rinus Michels”, make it clear whenever you can. What was the reason for the quarrel? According to van Gaal, Johan threw a lot of wrenches in the works when he was at Barcelona for the 1997-98 season. “People don’t know what I went through when I was in charge of Barça. I will never forgive him for what he did to me. I have tried to do a good job at the club despite Mr. Cruyff’s attempts to frustrate him. I never expected such a thing from a compatriot”noted in 2010.

4) When he left Piqué on the ground

The story was told amidst laughter Gerard Pique. The former Barcelona defender’s grandfather was a member of the board of directors of the culé team and one evening he invited the coach of the first team, van Gaal, to eat. Piqué, who was 12 at the time and playing in the lower ranks, prepared to receive this man who could be his boss in the future. When they met, the Dutchman pushed the boy hard and threw him to the ground. “You are too thin and weak to be a defender”Van Gaal said. Piqué was unable to eat anything that night.

5) The day of Pellegrino’s fury

Maurice Pellegrino It was characterized by a pristine career and absolute respect for rivals and teammates. The former central scorer who emerged at Vélez was rarely involved in a fight. And van Gaal was one of the few who managed to “pull it out”. The scene happened when sausage I played in Barcelona. The team won 3-0 and showed off. But the Dutch enters furious at half-time and knocks out the Argentine. “I grabbed him by the shirt and jacket because he replaced me. I jumped on him. I got out of the shower, told him everything and thought: ‘Here they kick me out’. You’re like, ‘We’re winning 3- 0, you are a defender, the team is playing well and they eliminate you.” I felt it was something very personal.”he assured.

6) A coach with little access to South American players

Van Gaal had no problems with just Juan Roman Riquelme and the Argentines: their discomfort was with all the Latin players. The first to suffer it in Barcelona were Giovanni, Sonny Anderson and Rivaldo. “Van Gaal is the Hitler of the Brazilians, he is arrogant, arrogant and he has a problem”released a furious John. “In Holland, I used to talk about a player’s mistakes in front of my teammates. This strengthens the character of the group. But I realized that the Latin players interpreted it as a humiliation. That’s why he had to opt for individual speak, which is not the best option. This is the culture in Spain. The stars play for people and, when they do it wrong, they want to justify themselves, save themselves individually”tested the DT.

7) Bielsa, silent (and defensive) admirer.

Not so many meetings are known between Bielsa and van Gaalbut there is evidence of the fanaticism which the Rosary professes for the Dutchman. “My role model was Van Gaal, I studied more than 250 matches of his teams. His Ajax was one of the best in the world of all time, he combined results with elegance and preciousness in the game “was praised by El Loco in 2003. “Bielsa intends to organize the team from behind, while I think about it based on the attack. I think he is more defensive than me, even if most of them are more defensive than van Gaal”Louis said in the newspaper La Nación.

8) Eggs in Monaco

When van Gaal took over from Bayern Munich in 2009, he believed he had achieved his place in the world. “The Bavarian attitude to life suits me perfectly. How come? Because Bayern’s motto is ‘Mia san mia’ (‘it is us’), while mine is ‘I am who I am’: confident, arrogant, domineering, honest, hardworking and innovative.”, he has declared. But in the German cast you had to deal with heavyweights, many of whom he sent to the bench. One afternoon at practice, he was rounding up the players and he pulled his pants down in front of everyone. “I am the one in charge and the one who decides who goes to the bank because I have eggs”he yelled at them, pointing at his genitals.

9) Precise words

Brazilian right-back Rafael da Silva did not fare well under van Gaal at Manchester United. One day he called him into his office and spoke to him a few words. “I won’t consider you; you can go”, warned him and marked the way out. There was no dialogue. The footballer gathered his things and left. Already over the car, he received a laconic text message from DT: “Soccer is like this”.

10) The most important triumph

In addition to being an extraordinary coach – according to France Football magazine he is ranked 18th among the best in history – van Gaal is a fighter. News surprised him in 2021: he had prostate cancer. Without revealing the disease to the Dutch players, the DT underwent 25 radiotherapy sessions. And finally, he announced care of him in April of this year. Yes, a few months before the start of the World Cup in Qatar.