After 13 confrontations on the bench, the Engineer finally managed to overcome his Argentine colleague. During his long and award-winning career, the national strategist managed to defeat top coaches and create iconic matchups.
Betis’ 1-0 victory against Atlético de Madrid on Sunday, during the 11th day of the Spanish championship, It’s not just any victory for Manuel Pellegrini. Beyond the achieved objective of adding three points against one of the great rivals, the result could perfectly have been more comfortable if they had not wasted so many options to convert. But there is another derivative which leaves a particular flavor to the Engineer: He beat Diego Pablo Simeone for the first time.
Only in the thirteenth confrontation in history between the Chilean and the Argentinian, two of the representatives of South America on the benches of the major European championships, The Betic strategist managed to defeat his trans-Andean colleague. The story between the two began on January 7, 2012, when the Chilean was in Malaga. It was a goalless draw against Atleti. In the previous 12 matches, the record was four draws and eight defeats for the national team. But Sunday was exorcism day.
In analyzing the end of his “curse”, Pellegrini called for restraint, to the point of emphasizing Simeone’s history in the red and white club. “My intention is not to beat him, he is a coach that I really like and he did a great job in those years at Atlético. . These statistics don’t matter to me. “What I want is for the team to score three points and fight for the European places,” he said after Sunday’s match.
Even if, strictly speaking, it’s only the first time, The former Lazio and Atlético footballer enters the list of victims of the coaching career of the most successful Chilean coach abroad the only representative of the country who dominated the international elite. Looking back at Manuel Pellegrini’s career, many high-ranking strategists, immersed in the big group, were beaten by the current Real Betis coach Balompié.
On the opponent side, a media battle pits him against José Mourinho, both in Spain and in England. To date, the results show 17 duels against the Portuguese, currently at Fenerbahce in Türkiye. The results indicate five victories for the Engineer, four draws and eight victories for the Portuguese. The Chilean’s last celebration against Mou took place in October 2022, during Betis’ 2-1 victory against Roma, in the Europa League.
Another of the historic duels, although less controversial than that against the Lusitanian, took place against Pep Guardiola. It must be said that the Catalan, multiple champion with Manchester City, has an obvious advantage over Pellegrini: 12 victories out of 15 played. The Chilean beat him twice: both times as City coach, against Bayern Munich. A 3-2 in the Champions League 13-14, in Germany, and another 3-2 in the Champions League 14-15, in England.
Focusing on Pellegrini’s stay in the Premier League, a strong opponent was Arsene Wenger The glory of Arsenal. The total confrontations are 11 matches and the Engineer has only one victory against the Frenchman. It was December 14, 2013, during City’s 6-3 victory against the Gunners in the English championship. He also only defeated once Louis van Gaal Retired Dutch strategist (after 4 PCs). This happened on 2 February 2014, when City beat United 1–0 in the city derby.
One of the coaches of the moment is Unaï Emery, Manager of Aston Villa. Pellegrini has a record in his favor against the Spaniard in 19 matches: nine wins, four draws and six defeats. In addition, also presents a favorable account against Marcelo Bielsa . In four matches, he won two. Both took part in the Malaga – Athletic Bilbao matches, in the Spanish championship.
On the contrary, there are technicians that the Chilean has not managed to beat, such as Carlo Ancelotti, Jürgen Klopp and the legend Sir Alex Ferguson.
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.