Mourinho Is Wrong To Say Real Betis Was Lucky – Pellegrini

Real Betis manager Manuel Pellegrini has hit back at Jose Mourinho’s assessment of his team’s dramatic victory against Real Madrid. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

Dismissing claims that his side merely rode their luck to secure the three points, Pellegrini insisted that his team were deserving winners, despite the pressure exerted by the visitors throughout the game.

Jose Mourinho

The Chilean coach added that his players deserve some accolade for taking their chance in front of goal when Real Madrid didn’t.

His words, “I don’t make the same analysis because I think the team went out to win from the first minute of the match, trying to find the back of the net against a rival like Real Madrid, which is, of course, a tough opponent.

They had some very dangerous set pieces where Alvaro Valles made three very, very good saves, but in the end, we scored the goal and took the three points against a great rival, in a very hard-fought match that, even if it had ended in a draw, would have been a fair result.

So, in that respect, that often happens in football: we capitalized on our chances and they didn’t.

I don’t think we played too roughly. I think both teams contested the ball. I don’t believe there was significant refereeing influence.

Whether there was one more or one less yellow card, I don’t think those were decisive factors in the outcome of the match.

We didn’t win the game because of the referee; we won because we capitalized on our chances and they couldn’t convert theirs, either because they were denied by Álvaro Valles or because they missed the penalty they had.

So, that’s how results are in football; specific events decide the outcome, but I don’t think the referee was the reason.

The same thing I’ve been conveying for the seven years we’ve been at Betis: football gives you 24 hours; 24 hours to enjoy a victory, 24 hours to suffer a defeat.

There are many specific things that happen in matches, as happened in the game against Levante, which cause things to unfold as they do.

You have to understand them, you have to analyze them, you have to be able to do a good self-critique both when you win and when you lose, and be convinced 24 hours a day of what you’re doing to try to win the next match, which is what we did.”