Manuel Pellegrini: “We’re not going to the Bernabéu with statistics in mind”

MADRID, 2 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The coach of Real Betis, Manuel Pellegrini, made it clear that they will try to be the “same” team as always during his visit to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu this Saturday, where they do not want to have “in their heads” the favorable statistics that indicate that the The Verdiblancos have scored points and have not conceded in their last five visits to the Madrid team.

“It will be a difficult game, against a great rival who has shown all their individual and team quality and is the European and Spanish champion for a reason, but we are going to play as we always try and we are going to try to be the same Betis as always,” said Pellegrini this Friday at a press conference.

The Chilean knows that “the last games there have been very balanced” and he didn’t give too much importance to the fact that the last five visits have always scored points against this rival, who hasn’t been able to score a goal either. “The statistics are there to see and it has been done five times, it can always be done again,” he admitted.

“But we don’t have the intention of having the statistics in mind and if they don’t score goals, we have to try to win and if they don’t score, the better, because if they score one, we will have to score two,” added the ‘Ingeniero’ . “What works is having the personality to look for a result and not changing what you do because it’s Real Madrid,” he stressed.

In addition, although “twelve years have passed” since his time at the white club, he still has “a lot of love” for him. “Regardless of the fact that we didn’t win any titles, we had an extraordinary campaign with 96 points and I think I left with 70 percent of the people’s support, I had a very comfortable year,” he confessed.


For this match, he confirmed that he will not be able to count on the Portuguese midfielder Willian Carvalho and that he could give Sergio Canales the title. “With him, what the doctors have said has been followed. Last week he was only playing 30 minutes and now he is in normal conditions to see if he starts because the part of the injury is solved,” he remarked.

On the other hand, Pellegrini was satisfied with the end of the market, which has allowed him to maintain a group whose “cohesion” he highlighted. “We were able to keep all the players and those necessary for the project, and we confirmed more or less those that we believe we need to have a good season,” he warned.

“Without a doubt, the economic situation of the club does not allow them to access the market to buy, but every effort has been made to maintain a competitive squad and within our limitations there is a very good squad. I am satisfied because they could have Two or three came out that there was no possibility of replacing them and the squad remained,” explained the Verdiblanco coach.

Finally, the Chilean stressed that he does not see the end date of the market well. “It surprises me and I don’t understand why you have to wait with four dates of competition when there are two months of vacation, I don’t think it takes competitions seriously. The templates should be ready one day before they start,” he said.