Today, Thursday, the cast of Verdiblanco face Barcelona, for the passage to the definition of the Spanish Supercopa, but which is played in the Middle East. Before the duel, the Engineer gave a controversial interview to the ABC newspaper, in which he exposed his vision of the Coup in Chile.
One of the prizes which bore the title of Betis in the Copa del Rey was access to the Spanish Super Cup , which has a different format compared to the vast majority of countries and is set in Saudi Arabia, which has been rocked following Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival at Al Nassr. Finally, the time has come for the verdiblancos, because today they have their key to the semi-finals against Barcelona (at 4:00 p.m. in Chile). Potentially, there are two matches for the béticos in a bid to get a new star from the engineer’s hand. If they beat the Catalans, they will play the final next Sunday, at the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, against Real Madrid.
The Heliópolis side arrive on the right foot, following their weekend victory over Rayo Vallecano for La Liga which saw them enter the Champions League qualifying zone. His rival is not doing anything wrong, because he is the leader of the Hispanic championship, having beaten Atlético de Madrid by a minimum, taking advantage of the fall of Real Madrid.
“We come from an important victory with which we recovered places in the Champions League. Wherever they play, Barcelona will be a favourite, but we don’t feel like mates. We will go out to win from the first minute with confidence in our football,” the Chilean coach said in the previous press conference. “The Super Cup is special, it’s not a long tournament, but it allows us to win another title against big teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona or Valencia,” he added.
For his part, Barça coach Xavi Hernández highlighted the virtues of his rival. “Betis, analyzing it, are a rival who really like to have the ball. Pellegrini is an attacking coach. All the football fans play as a starter, Canales, Fekir, Luis Henrique… They hold you tight, he’s technically a very strong opponent. They have two very powerful pivots, it’s a complete team. We will have a lot of work, because they are technically good,” said the former Culé footballer.
As Betic manager, this will be the former Manchester City manager’s fifth meeting against Barcelona. The previous four were for La Liga, in which his Betis won only once. It happened on December 4, 2021, winning 1-0 at Camp Nou.
The engineer’s controversial interview
As a prelude to the duel with Barcelona, Manuel Pellegrini gave an interview to the ABC newspaper, in which he discussed various topics. He spoke, for example, of the change in direction of his life, when he moved from engineering to football. “If I had moved into the construction side today, I would still be there, because my biological age always asks me to improve myself. Being a coach was the best decision I made in my life. I like the building. I devoted myself to it for 14 years, I made houses, buildings… but I was a player for fifteen years, I combined my career as an engineer with that of a footballer and there was a moment when I had to make a decision. My vocation was to be a coach. I did what I loved. The world has gained a person satisfied with what he has done” he stated.
However, the most controversial excerpt from the interview the engineer gave is when He talks about the historical evolution of Chile and gives his point of view on the 1973 coup. “I saw very different Chilis. In my childhood, it was a very poor country, in which it was very difficult to move forward. In 1970, when I entered university, the government of Salvador Allende arrived, the first democratically elected communist president. During these three years, the country suffered a total catastrophe. Nearly 1,000% inflation and it was very divided. Then came a military coup, which is always unfortunate, but at that time a large part of the country understood that something had to be done because otherwise we were heading towards a civil war. The dictatorship, of course, brings things that are not justifiable, but it was necessary to live the parameters that were lived at that time in Chile. 16 years later, Pinochet called an election and was overwhelmingly called upon to leave. There have been thirty years in which Chile has made great progress,” he said.
“It went from a poor country to a developed country in all economic indices, but in the last ten years there has been a lot of corruption, the country has relaxed and a political class has deteriorated which did not know how to run the country as it was until then. Then came the social epidemic of 2019, which stopped the country for three years and during all this time they did not agree on the new constitution. The diagnosis carried by the political class is erroneous and there is a deterioration of the economy and security. This is why this social epidemic has occurred. That would be my objective analysis of Chile, because I am neutral. I have no political color” exposed.
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Source: Latercera
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
