Andrés Guarded accelerates his leading role in Manuel Pellegrini's Betis and against Ferencvaros he was one of those chosen to lead the midfield. This time he accompanied Paul, the natural substitute for Guido Rodríguez. In the previous appointment of this competition, he accompanied Canales to take a more balanced role in that adaptable core. His flexible role is a blessing for Pellegrini and the player himself knows it: “You have to know the virtues of each teammate. It is not the same to play alongside Canales, than when Guido or Paul is there, you can step on the area more and go to the But we know the strengths and weaknesses of each player and we are promoting them. “
The Mexican already knows what it is to continuously vary his position in his career and for now at Betis he aspires again to a multipurpose role that solves breaks and variants. Guido conditions Pellegrini's formula: with the Argentine the team finds a more fixed pivot and his companions have a greater offensive projection. Without him, everything changes. Under this context, Pellegrini wants to find in Paul that reference that can emulate Guido in performance. With that intention he drew his plan in Budapest, but there is still a growing room for improvement for the replacement to get closer to the starter. “There are objectives above the individualities and everything is going well,” said Guardado about those interchangeable tricks. He, for the moment, adapts as a closure or conductor.
LaLiga Santander
* Data updated as of October 1, 2021
Betis tries to draw up formulas to also cover the important absence of Channels, that he will miss another game, at the very least, due to his ankle injury. Guarded is not the only one capable of supplying pieces from the center of the field, but he does have the difficult challenge of adapting to any of those places in the midfield. “Personally, I try to maintain the level that the team has. You have to be ready for when you have to. The past? We should not enter into comparisons,” warns the Mexican. It is Pellegrini's makeshift wild card.