There is a very Louis moment towards the end of Louis, the brilliant new film by Dutch director Geertjan Lassche that feels less like a documentary and more like a two-hour meditation on the meaning of sport, relationships, mortality; life through the lens of one brutally honest 70-year-old Dutch prozess-trainer.
Louis van Gaal is doing drills with the national team shortly after his latest unveiling as Netherlands manager. Virgil van Dijk approaches him, observed only by Lassche’s wonderfully wry camera, and informs Van Gaal that he, Virgil van Dijk, will be the first penalty taker in any forthcoming shootout. “Ah…,” Van Gaal says, a look of wonder spreading across his face. “So you’ve become a coach now.”
