Inter Miami forward Luis Suarez, a Uruguayan legend who retired from the national team last month as the all-time leading scorer, blasted coach Marcelo Bielsa on Thursday for the “toxic culture” he created upon his arrival in 2023.
“There were situations that occurred at the Copa America that hurt to see, but I didn’t talk about it for the good of the group,” Suarez said in a televised interview with DSports Uruguay. “It’s going to continue to happen. The players are going to reach a limit and explode.”
Suarez, 37, complained that Bielsa did not allow team staff to mingle with the players, something which had been common practice under former coaches Oscar Tabarez and Diego Alonso, the former Inter Miami coach who led Uruguay to the 2022 World Cup.
“At the Celeste Complex [training ground], employees are not allowed to come in and greet us and eat with us; they have to be careful even at the door they have to enter, which broke my heart,” Suarez said.
“A group of players set up a meeting [with Bielsa] to ask him to at the very least greet us with `Good morning’. He wouldn’t even say `Hello’ to us. I had a five-minute meeting with him as a leader of the team and in the end, he only responded with ‘Thank you very much.’”
Suarez added that Bielsa also discouraged players from greeting fans. He said when the team arrived at its hotel in New York during Copa America, Bielsa had his staff tell players to walk past fans outside the hotel and head directly in without stopping.
“I stood up and told the coach that I respected that, but as a captain and to respect and appreciate the fans, something I have always done, we as players would decide to stop and greet the fans,” Suarez said. “We agreed and walked off the bus, split up and spent some time with the fans.”
Suarez also said he supported national team winger Agustin Canobbio, who reportedly was upset that during Copa America he was required to train with a scout team made up of U20 players rather than train with his national team teammates.
“It’s a complete lack of respect, and it makes me angry; I support [Canobbio],” he said.
According to Suarez, that kind of division between starters and reserves was common under Bielsa. He said before the last group stage match against the United States, the starters attended their own training session and the substitutes stayed at the team hotel and trained separately.
“We always trained at different times,” said Suarez, who did not start during Copa America. “Why wouldn’t I want to spend time with Maxi Araujo and Nico de la Cruz who is a close friend of mine? I wanted to train with Ronald [Araujo] and test him in a training session. Good team harmony and positive energy leads to strong performances. But when you train at different times it’s difficult.”
Uruguay finished third in the Copa America and is in third place in the CONMEBOL South America standings in 2026 World Cup qualifying. The next two games are Oct. 10 against Peru and Oct. 15 against Ecuador.
“I ask people not to take it out on the players if something goes wrong because Bielsa has separated the whole group, even in the way they train,” Suarez said.
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