As Liam Cooper hoisted the Championship trophy aloft, Marcelo Bielsa took a step back and smiled sheepishly, watching the celebrations unfold from afar.
After 16 years of knocking, the Premier League doors had finally opened for Leeds United. There had been hugs, warm embraces, and jokes with other members of staff following confirmation of promotion last Friday, but not since 1991 has Bielsa truly let himself go.
That night, in the heat and fervour of the Coloso del Parque, he was unable to curb his emotions, screaming "Newell's Carajo (f***ing Newells)" over and over again after securing the title in just his first season in charge at Newell's Old Boys. The celebrations on Wednesday were more modest but the glory was savoured in equal measure.
His journey, after all, has not been plain sailing. From Copa Libertadores heartbreak to play-off implosions, the Argentine has never strayed too far away from a last-minute capitulation, a reputation which, over time, has bred the myth of the infamous 'Bielsa burnout'.
During an interview with the journalist Graham Hunter, Ander Herrera once remarked: "I cannot lie to you; in the final months we couldn't even move. Our legs said 'stop'."
The Basque midfielder was referring to the latter months of Bielsa's first season in charge of Athletico Bilbao, when the squad began to wilt after a blistering start to the season.
Top of the league at Christmas, Marseille would suffer a similar a fate in the 14/15 season, while a disastrous spell at Club America was said to have had 90 minute sprint sessions on volcanoes written into the weekly schedule. Weights were attached to the players while they ran.
Having popularised pressing and video analysis, Bielsa is also credited as one of the pioneers of the modern game, and if a period of his career best encapsulates both sides of his management, it is undoubtedly his time in Rosario, a city with little imprint on Argentina's footballing honours list but one that has produced enough greats to rival any other area of South America.
Cesar Luis Menotti (manager of Argentina's 1978 World Cup winning side), Gabriel Batitusta, Jorge Valdano, Mauricio Pochettino and Angel Di Maria all grew up on the banks of the Parana river, and that's without mentioning the small matter of Lionel Messi.
Yet Bielsa, epitmosied by Newell's naming their stadium after him, is the man with his name indelibly attached to the club that rivals Rosario Central for the region's bragging rights, even if Newell's fans would struggle to remember him as a player.
An analytical center-half who was very demanding of his teammates but lacking in technical ability, Bielsa retired from his playing career at the age of 24 and was quick to explore the possibilities of management.
His first job came at the University of Buenos Aires just four years after hanging up his boots. Even then, he was said to have been pushing the boundaries with his meticulous commitment to training sessions. Bielsa would partner Jorge Griffa as a youth team coach at Newell's shortly after, and it was then that the revolution at the Coloso del Parque began.
Griffa, who is regarded as Bielsa's mentor and inspiration, would embark on a grand project with his protégé. The pair divided Argentina up into 350 zones and staged tournaments in each area, with the stand-out players receievng an invitation to trials at Newell's.
Bielsa would replicate something similar while at Atlas Guadalajara in Mexico, designing a system to screen 20,000 footballers a year. Remarkably, when Mexico played Argentina at the 2006 World Cup, eight of the starting eleven were players discovered by Bielsa.
His project at Newell's was no less successful. A visit to Hector Pochettino's house in the middle of the night and a quick look at his sleeping son's legs was enough to convince Bielsa and Griffa of Mauricio Pochettino's credentials, while Gabriel Batistuta - a then overweight Gabriel Batistuta - was also persuaded to join the Newell's movement, ditching his ambition to become a doctor in the process. Eduardo Berizzo, the man who would later become Bielsa's assistant coach while at Chile, was also part of the youth teams in those days.
Bielsa waited ten years for his big break. Jose Yudica, the then manager of Newell's, moved onto Deportivo Cali in Colombia just two years after guiding his side to the first league title in the club's history, creating a vacancy that Bielsa was ideally placed to fill.
He and Griffa had laid the foundations as youth team coaches but now it was time to put their ideas to the test. With his first throw of the dice, Bielsa rolled a six.
Implementing unconventional methods such as writing tactical instructions on players' boots, Bielsa's men stormed to immediate domestic glory in a quite unprecedented system that managed to merge total football with gegenpressing.
Gerardo 'Tata' Martino, one of Bielsa's self-proclaimed 'disciples', led by example as a senior midfielder but at the very heart of the regime was the thorough video anaylsis in preparation for matches. Cristian Domizzi, who would play for Bielsa at Newells and later in Mexico, recalled the following in Tim Rich's 'The Quality of Madness' biography:
"I remember one day he brought us some video casettes of Jari Litmanen. He wanted me to observe his movements. I was astonished because I had no idea who he was. Later the guy became a phenomenon at Ajax but when Bielsa gave me these videos, he was still in Finland and nobody knew him. I couldn't believe it. Only Bielsa could have got hold of that film."
In those days, the Primera Division was formatted uniquely. The season was split into two parts, with the winners of the Apertura (first-half of the season) facing the champions of the Clausura (the latter half) in a playoff to become undisputed champions of Argentina. Each half-season was considered a title in itself but to secure the entire championship was to add another layer of gloss to the season as a whole.
After Bielsa's outpouring of emotion on the final day of the Apertura, Newell's momentum slowly drained, finishing eight in the Clausura, a dozen points behind the winners, Boca Juniors.
Tata Martino had left for Europe by that point and there were other excuses in that they knew they would be taking part in the playoff in July regardless of what happened during the Clausura. Post-title hangovers are not uncommon either.
This explanation, however, excluded a significant piece of the puzzle. Out of the malaise rose an accusation that would harry Bielsa for the rest of his career. Burnout.
Given the general youth of the squad and Bielsa's desire to instill perfectionism in his players through intense, repetitive training sessions, it was perhaps inevitable that, at some point, the sustainability of his management would be called into question.
The subsequent Apertura was an unmitigated disaster. Newell's prevailed in the playoff via penalties but with the players focusing on the Copa Libertadores, domestic competition tumbled down the list of priorities. They finished third from bottom, winning just three of their 19 games.
Nevertheless, given their success in South America's elite competition, it was probably worth it. After a heart-stopping penalty shootout against America de Cali during which hearts quite literally stopped (one spectator died of a heart attack and 10 others were treated for cardiac arrests), Newell's made it to the final. 26 penalties were taken in all.
The ultimate showdown pitted them against Sao Paulo. This, though, was no normal Sao Paulo side.
Inspired by the likes of Cafu, Leonardo and Raí, they would go on to beat Johan Cruyff's Barcelona in the Intercontinental Cup and are widely considered as one of the greatest South American club sides of all time. Newell's pushed them right to the wire, but this time found themselves on the receiving end of a defeat on penalties.
Despite bouncing back to win the 1992 Clausura, the itch of that night would long fester in the mind of Bielsa, so much so that, with a heavy heart, he called quits on his time at Newell's and decided to head for Mexico in search of some respite.
It would be five years before Bielsa returned to Argentina to manage Velez Sarsfield, one of the lesser-known clubs of Buenos Aires. Under his tutelage, Velez would triumph in the 1998 Clausura but this was a side that, against all odds, had won the Copa Libertadores just three years before. Bielsa would leave with his dignity intact but was never going to emulate the achivements of Carlos Bianchi, the former manager.
Nevertheless, the next significant phase of Bielsa's career would soon begin. After just three months at Espanyol, an offer was presented to manage 'La Selección' (the Argentinian national side) that was too good to turn down.
Bielsa's men steamrolled the qualification process for the 2002 World Cup but to say circumstances were unkind going into the competition was an understatement. An economic crisis in Argentina saw the average worker's salary halved, with one in four unemployed. Bielsa himself had not been paid for almost a year going into that World Cup.
Yet with the likes of Batistuta, Juan Sebastian Veron, Diego Simeone, and Hernan Crespo all part of the national set-up at the time, Argentina were being considered as one of the favourities. Bielsa ensured as little as possible was left to chance, studying hour after hour of video tape of everyone they could possibly face in the Far East.
Certain things, however, lied outside the realms of his control. After a convincing 2-0 win over Nigeria, Argentina faced England, a side looking to exact revenge after Simeone's theatrics at France '98. David Beckham, the man who got sent off that match, scored the only goal of the game, but Bielsa's men had plenty to feel hard done by.
Michael Owen later admitted that he had dived to win the penalty that Beckham converted, but the Argentina camp didn’t need telling. It was also notable that the size of their travelling fanbase was dwarfed by that of their opposition’s, with very few Argentina supporters able to afford the journey due to the economic crash.
Their final group game was against Sweden, a side who had four points from their first two matches and hadn’t lost a game during qualification. Neither had Argentina, but a long-range free-kick from Anders Svensson nudged Sweden in front against the run of play.
Argentina continued to lay siege to their opposition's penalty area and the pressure eventually told, with Hernan Crespo equalising in the 88th minute. It was too late though; the favourites were sent packing.
If Bielsa thought the Copa America would win him redemption two years later, he was to be sorely dissapointed. Argentina made it to the final, but Bielsa found himself victim of another penalty shootout defeat, this time against Brazil. He would leave on a high after winning the Olympic gold medal in Athens that summer but, in truth, it was scant consolation.
Three years came and went before he was back in a job. It was during this period when, over one of the asados (barbecues) that Bielsa had grown fond of, an aspiring manager visited the Argentine seeking counsel. While playing for Roma, Gabriel Batistuta had told the midfielder that: "if you want to be a coach, you have to get together with Bielsa." The man's name was Pep Guardiola.
The two men discussed tactics and management techniques long into the night, with Bielsa explaining why he never gives exclusive interviews to media outlets. He reasoned that it would be unfair to give an interview to a powerful newspaper and deny one to a young reporter from the provinces. Guardiola would follow the same policy when he became manager of Barcelona two years later.
Bielsa resurfaced in 2008, his next job coming with the Chilean national side. Since they hosted the tournament in 1962, La Roja had only ever been to four World Cups, and out of their 13 matches, they hadn't won a single game.
Change, however, was on the horizon. Just before Bielsa's appointment, Chile finished third at the Under-20 World Cup with a team featuring the likes of Arturo Vidal, Alexis Sanchez, and Gary Medel. In the Argentine, they had a coach who was capable of transforming a side's fortunes.
Another scintillating qualification campaign was to follow, the highlight being when Chile recorded their first ever competitive victory over Argentina. After wrapping up qualifictaion early in Colombia, the president came to visit the training complex to congratulate everyone. Fully prepared in their kit, the players sensed a notable absence. Bielsa was nowhere to be seen.
Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the then president of the Chilean FA, recalled the following in 'The Quality of Madness': "I was becoming more nervous, I had no idea where he was. Then, suddenly, he appeared with two guys I had never seen before.
"I wondered what they were supposed to be doing with the president and then Bielsa spoke to her: 'I would like you to meet two people who have done more than anyone to get us to the World Cup. This man is our baker and every day he delivers fresh bread to us. This man brings us fruit and vegetables. We could not have qualified without them'." It was Bielsa down to a tee.
He would guide Chile into the knockout rounds for just the second time in the team's history but after a change of presidency within the Chilean FA, he decided the project was no longer for him. Although his team had made clear progress, and despite the fact that it was his work that is said to have laid the foundations for the Copa America triumphs of 2015 and 2016, the time was right to return to Europe after 13 years managing national sides.
When weighing up future workplaces there are three things Bielsa typically looks for: a passionate fanbase, a strong collection of young players, and modern training facilities. Athletic Bilbao would soon tick all three boxes, with the Lezama training complex set to undergo a £1.1million rennovation.
Bilbao also presented a unique challenge for Bielsa. The club, which hadn't won a title since 1984, is unlike any other in that its transfer policy means only players from the Basque region can be signed. The rule has been modified in recent years to encompass players with Basque lineage but the principle of youth development over foreign imports remains.
Bilbao had also never won a European trophy but after dismantiling Manchester United in the Round of 16 of the Europa League, disbelievers began to open their eyes. Iker Muniain, the club's youngest debutant since 1914, dazzled that night.
After an insipid start to the campaign, things also began to pick on the domestic front. One win in five was followed by one loss in 14, while progress was also being made in the Copa del Rey.
It was then that the infamous late-season implosion began to rear its ugly head. As Bielsa's punishing training sessions started to take their toll, the league campaign slowly fizzled out but the most vivid scars were inflicted by the Europa League final, with Athletico Madrid ruthlessly disposing of Bibao's young squad. A more forgivable defeat in the Copa del Rey final followed, this time against Pep Guardiola's Barcelona during the Catalan's final game in charge.
There were caveats to be found, but the general narrative was clear: Bielsa's side had hit the self-destruct button from a promising position, and on this occasion the counter-argument to the burnout theory did not apply. When Bielsa leaves a club, it is often the case that the team struggle to return to the heights they reached while he was there. Bielsa's second season in Bilbao produced a dissapointing 12th-placed finish. The following year, under Ernesto Valverde, they finished fourth.
A brief spell in Marseille was to evoke similar emotions to the ones felt at the San Mames. Optimism, fuelled by an electrifying start to the season, was soon followed by despair as Marseille crashed out of the title race. Again, Bielsa had managed to energise the city but with each fruitless season, his legend seemed to erode some more.
His last actions on the continent included a 48-hour spell at Lazio (Bielsa resigned after the hierarchy failed to meet his demands in the transfer market) and an ill-fated six months at LOSC Lille. The Argentine needed revitalising. So did Leeds United.
And so it began.
Two years of pressing, 'murderball', and playoff pandemonium were to follow before Leeds finally crossed the threshold. It's been frantic, frenzied, a proverbial rollercoster, but that is Bielsa.