Luis Suarez slams Marcelo Bielsa for culture that broke ex-Liverpool striker's heart at Uruguay

Former striker Luis Suarez recently called time on international football, having represented Uruguay on 143 occasions over a 17-year period. Having scored 69 times, he walked away as the leading goal scorer in the history of the two-time World Cup winning nation.

Playing for that long inevitably involves working with many coaches. The last of the nine with whom worked at international level was former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa. However, the 37-year-old Inter Miami man has , going so far as to claim it “breaks my heart”.

Suarez was speaking on television show De Fútbol Se Habla Así, as reported by . He is clearly displeased with how Bielsa has treated him and his colleagues, both players and support staff.

“At the Celeste Complex, employees are not allowed to come in and greet us and eat with us,” he said. ”They have to be careful even at the door they have to enter. It breaks my heart that this is how life is in the Complex today.”

“Matias Vecino was the first to see it coming. Nobody questions the fact that a guy like Vecino, who was 30 years old, left from one day to the next,” Suarez asked, in reference to the Lazio midfielder who also recently retired from international football. Coincidental or not, Vecino only made two brief substitute appearances under Bielsa before calling it a day for Uruguay.

Suarez also spoke about issues which occurred at the South American championship this summer. “There were situations at the Copa America that hurt me, but I didn't say them for the sake of coexistence,” he said. “Many players held a meeting to ask the coach to at least say good morning to us, but he didn't even say hello.”

“Bielsa gives a conference and talks wonderful things about people, and in New York there was a day when he asked us not to stop to greet people and I stood up and I told him that we were going to greet people anyway,” added.

He also explained how he tried to clear the air before retiring.“I had a five-minute chat with Bielsa, speaking as a group leader, and at the end he only replied, 'Thank you very much’.”

Suarez’s final comments were asking the fans to back the players should Uruguay’s World Cup qualification bid go awry. “Tomorrow, I ask people not to take it out on the players if something goes wrong. Bielsa has separated the whole group, even in the way they train,” he concluded. It would be fascinating to hear the manager’s side of the story, as well as that of , but the former forward is clearly unimpressed.