A profound change has been the one that the Verdiblanco team has had since the accession of the Engineer. If in La Liga 19-20 they climbed out of the relegation zone by five points, two seasons later they won the Copa del Rey and are in the fight to enter the Champions League. The DT had to adapt to a short team and without investing large sums, managing to improve the performance of the players who today are essential in its scheme. The presence of the sporting director, Antonio Cordón, who brought in Pellegrini, who worked in Ecuador, is also essential.
April 23, 2022 will become a special day for Real Betis Balompié. After 17 years, the Heliopolis team won a title: the Copa del Rey. Especially considering that the final against Valencia was played in Sevilla (at La Cartuja, around 15 minutes from Benito Villamarín), there was the added bonus of winning something at home. Derived from obtaining the trophy of His Majesty (Philip VI himself presented the cup to Captain Joaquín), the praise for the figure of Manuel Pellegrini multiplied, the architect of this work.
The title signifies the ‘icing on the cake’ of an exceptional campaign not only numerically, but also from a game perspective. At the time, Betis became the only Spanish club to play three tournaments. If they achieved glory in the Copa del Rey, in the Europa League they reached the round of 16 (eliminated by Eintracht Frankfurt) and in La Liga they are fighting to enter the Champions League qualifier (they are fifth, four points behind fourth)., Atlético Madrid).
To tell the story of this idyll forged between the Betis world and Manuel Pellegrini, you have to go back in time and see what the reality of the team was in the stage preceding the Engineer. In La Liga 2019-20, the Verdiblancos finished in 15th place, with 41 points, just five from the relegation zone. They had two coaches in the year (Rubi and Alexis Trujillo), won only 10 of 38 games and were the second most beaten defense (60 goals conceded).
To understand the starting point of the Pellegrini project, it is necessary to mention Antonio Cordón, the sporting director of Betis. The two have known each other from Villarreal and the manager had a fixation on finding talent in South America to bolster the Yellow Submarine. Under his leadership, Matías Fernández was signed, among others. Cordón was working in the Ecuadorian Federation, facing the Qualifiers for Qatar 2022. In fact, he brought in Jordi Cruyff to be the team’s coach. In the end, the project fell apart and they both left (Gustavo Alfaro arrived and qualified for the World Cup). In 2020 he joined the Andalusian club and his card for the bench was Pellegrini.
At the end of 2021, in an interview with local media, Cordón erected the Chilean as the key to the success of the institution: “It is clear that Manuel Pellegrini is achieving what was unthinkable for many. With his experience, his spirit, the respect he has for the players in the dressing room, his way of understanding football… I think he is the ideal coach for Betis”. The Cordón-Pellegrini tandem is central to understanding the awakening of a popular and traditional cast in Spain, which had become accustomed to witnessing the successes of its neighbor and rival, Seville.
low cost
Betis do not have Manchester City’s portfolio. Sothe Chilean strategist had to adapt to a complex economic reality, even more with the problems caused by the pandemic. I had to form a team merging elements the club already had with low cost additions. The relevant players in his current scheme arrived in the previous campaign: Nabil Fekir, Borja Iglesias, Álex Moreno, Guido Rodríguez and Juanmi. The general opinion is that the arrival of the DT has been important for the rise in performance of several footballers. In addition, he had the approval of having Joaquín, the emblem of the verdiblanca store, which coincided with the engineer in Malaga.
For the 2020-2021 academic year, the Chilean’s first in command, there has been no disbursement of money to strengthen the workforce. Claudio Bravo has signed as a free agent after ending his relationship with City. The arrivals of winger Martín Montoya and defender Víctor Ruiz, in the same situation, have been added. On the other hand, Betis had to sell the Argentinian Giovani Lo Celso to Tottenham, for 32 million euros.
In the current season, which is in the home stretch, the most expensive signing involved spending just 3.5 million euros, a lower figure for Europe’s top flight . It was for the purchase of Argentine defender Germán Pezzella from Fiorentina. Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Silva (Bravo competition) and Senegalese winger Youssouf Sabaly landed free. While Héctor Bellerín and striker Willian José arrived on loan. Although the Betis squad are valued at €243m, they only appear in eighth place in La Liga. We are far from Real Madrid, first on the list, with a workforce of 756.5 million euros, according to figures from Transfermarkt.
With this panorama, the new Betis was forged. Without a large team in quantity, Pellegrini gave form and style to a team that characterized the right foot with the ball. His main drawing, the 4-2-3-1, was starting to slip from memory. Gradually the changes were noticed. An example: in La Liga 19-20 they have scored 48 goals, for 20-21 they have already taken the number to 50 and in the current one they total 56, with five games remaining.
Betis’ goal man is called Borja Iglesias. The rise of the Panda is notorious, since he scored the goal in regulation time of the final, with the Engineer on the bench. In La Liga 19-20, he only scored three goals. Afterwards, it got better. He has converted 11. And in the current one, he has nine.
Pellegrini’s debut season left Betis sixth in the Spanish tournament, qualifying for the Europa League. Now the good campaign has whetted the appetite and they aim to the Champions, which would also mean a succulent economic income for the institution , which would imply a larger budget for reinforcements. In parallel, Pellegrini’s plan has involved a series of contract renewals, such as that of Claudio Bravo, who will continue for one more season at Heliopolis.
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Source: Latercera
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
