Carlos Bilardo

Carlos Salvador Bilardo (born 16 March 1939 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine former football player and coach, who is currently the General Manager of the Argentina national football team.

Bilardo achieved worldwide renown as a player with Estudiantes de La Plata in the 1960s, and as coach of the Argentina side that won the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

Bilardo is known by fans and the media as el narigón (big nose).

Early life

Bilardo was born in the Buenos Aires La Paternal neighborhood to Sicilian immigrants. He was drawn to football from his childhood, but did not neglect study or work. On school vacations, he would get up before dawn to haul produce to the Abasto market in Buenos Aires.

Bilardo was a promising prospect in the youth divisions of major Buenos Aires club San Lorenzo de Almagro, and he was drafted to the junior Argentina national football team that obtained the 1959 Pan-American title and took part in the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome.

In 1961, Bilardo was transferred to second-division side Deportivo Español, where he became the team's top scorer, but he slowly gravitated to the position of defensive midfielder. In parallel, he continued his studies in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires.

Career with Estudiantes

In 1965, Bilardo was transferred to Estudiantes de La Plata, where coach Osvaldo Zubeldía built a team based on the killer juveniles (la tercera que mata) and thought of using Bilardo as a more mature anchor for the...
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