Rodrigo suffered the ignominy of being substituted despite coming on as a replacement himself for Leeds United in Saturday’s Chelsea draw.
Marcelo Bielsa said at the time: “He shows a lot of generosity with me, but he knows my decision touch him and even he understood the situation, but I know with this decision I hurt him and it is difficult to overcome in a short time, this.”
Back then, Bielsa reflected upon the case of Andrés Guglielminpietro, or Guly for short, who was put on and then removed while playing for Argentina. More than 20 years after it happened Guly was still saying how hurt he was by the experience. After the Roberts incident,
Marcelo Bielsa said: “What he (Guly) said in the press is he regrets himself in that moment to say nothing to me, to give me a strong message. That means for him, a footballer, it is difficult to accept these kind of decisions. What I can explain is I made a mistake after the first half (against West Brom in 2019). I interpret one situation in the game and that moment did not happen. I thought if we were going to put one player more offensive we were going to be able to adapt to this moment. After the match it was more difficult than I thought and the player had to try to resolve some situation. That is not my high point and after, if I don’t take a second decision, there is going to be a second mistake, but if I correct the mistake, I will hurt the player.”
The team’s needs came before Roberts’s that night, but with Rodrigo against Chelsea it was different in Bielsa’s eyes. Rather than an apology, Bielsa will thank Rodrigo for the effort he put into the lunchtime kick-off because it was far above the physical level he is at following injury. Bielsa did not say it, but you might assume it was always planned for him to play no more than a half, given he did not start the match.
Marcelo Bielsa added: “The period in the first half and second half, while he played, the efforts he made physically were superior to those he’s capable at this moment after being out for 40 days. Not only physically, but match fitness. I value a lot how he was able to perform in the around 50 minutes he played. Because although he’s healthy and he’s physically fit, the competitive rhythm he needs and the work with the ball is still not there yet.”
Pushed on whether he would apologise or explain the decision,
Marcelo Bielsa said: “The contribution that Rodrigo made was above what he’s actually capable of doing at this moment. More than apologising to to him, I have to thank him for the contribution he made while he was on the pitch, because I insist the contributions he made do not correspond to where he’s at in his return.”
This is not the first time Marcelo Bielsa has made such a decision during his Whites tenure and on that first occasion he stressed how much it can hurt a footballer. On that night in the Championship, Roberts had come on at half-time for Jamie Shackleton before then going off in the 75th minute for Luke Ayling as Bielsa looked to shore up a defence under pressure from West Bromwich Albion.
