Real Madrid Hazard returns to Zidane's list
Manuel Pellegrini's
career
(Santiago, Chile, 1953) is marked by four
Champions League
knockouts
. Four moments that were a turning point for the Chilean coach in a competition that now, with
Betis
, he observes on an almost impossible horizon. The Verdiblancos are sixth, their best league ranking in recent years, but they are more than 18 points away from playing the top continental competition. Near and far at the same time, a situation that 'The Engineer' knows well precisely because of those lights and shadows that he experienced on the four occasions that he was the protagonist of the European Cup.
April 2006
.
Juan Román Riquelme
missed a penalty and
Villarreal
could not carry their semi-final match against the almighty
Arsenal of Arsene Wenger
to extra time
, which would fall in the final against Barcelona.
It has been the biggest success of the yellow submarine.
March 2010
.
Under the command of the Chilean,
Madrid
, who had already suffered the '
Alcorconazo
' in October 2009, fell in the second round of the Champions League against
Olympique de Lyon
.
It was the confirmation of Pellegrini's goodbye, who also failed to win the League against Barça.
April 2013
. After his only season on the Madrid bench, Pellegrini accepted the managerial position at
Málaga
and led them to the 12-13 quarter-finals against
Dortmund
. In a tie that ended in discount and with rigorous arbitration decisions, the Andalusian team was dropped from the tournament after having made the best performance in its history.
May 2016
.
Good work in Malaga gave Pellegrini his second chance in a big game.
He ended up in a
Manchester City
which he led to the first Champions semi-finals in its history.
And at the
Bernabéu
, the same stadium that had seen him fall against Lyon six years earlier, the 'citizens' were at the gates of their first final due to an own goal by
Fernando Reges
.
"He is personable, calm and natural"
That defeat in Madrid, coupled with
Leicester's
fourth place in the Premier League
, meant
the end of Pellegrini in Manchester
. It lasted longer than in the Spanish capital and took a league title and two in the Cup, but it ended at the gates of its great goal. At the age of 63, he accepted the offer of
Chinese Hebei
and seemed to begin the decline of his career on the bench, but two years later
West Ham
called him and recovered him for elite football. A course in the middle of the table and part of the next, bordering on the decline, forced the Londoners to get rid of the Chilean. It might seem like another puncture with no return, but on the roller coaster that has been Manuel Pellegrini's career,
Betis
He had a new joy in store for him on his return to Spanish football six years later.
He sat on the Villamarín bench last summer.
"
Football changes quickly,
" he admitted in his presentation with the Andalusian club.
Topic and reality of his career.
"That experience of having been in so many top-level clubs
gives him a residue that perhaps others do not have,
"
Antonio Cordón
, Betis general sports director
, explains to El Mundo
.
"
The vision he has
, the way he deals with the events of a season ... He
is passionate about football,
" he adds.
A few months after his arrival in
Seville
, the present confirms Pellegrini's ambitions. Its squad, led by an
international
Channels
and an
unleashed
Fekir
, is one of the most attractive in LaLiga. Betis' biggest problem continues to be defensive solidity, it is the team with the most goals in the top seven, a common point of a cheerful style of play that has characterized the Chilean teams during the last two decades. "He is clear that
he likes players who have good treatment with the ball
, who compete and are capable of playing every game," summarizes Cordón. Fekir will not be against Madrid after his expulsion against
Athletic
, but the Cantabrian will be, beacon of the Verdiblanco game: "
It is our key piece
, "the coach clarified a few days ago.
In addition to Canales, Pellegrini has recovered the best version of
Borja Iglesias
, the most expensive signing in the history of Betis (28 million).
The Galician has nine goals and fights for the position at the top of the attack with
Juanmi
(4 goals).
The character of the technician is the key to part of that recovery: "
Manuel is an affable, calm and natural person
", describes Cordón.
In a career that has taken him to several continents, Pellegrini never tires of watching football at the age of
67
: "He
is always watching games and results
. From England, from China, from South America ... All the time. he really likes to watch
classic football
. "
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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