“The game was ours” – Manuel Pellegrini delighted with result and performance against Real Madrid – Football España

Real Betis secured a memorable 2-1 victory over Real Madrid on Saturday, and in the process, they boosted their European qualification hopes. They moved up to sixth with that result, and should they finish there, a place in the Europa League or UEFA Conference League for next season would be theirs.

It was a fantastic performance from Betis against the defending champions, and as per Diario AS, head coach Manuel Pellegrini was full of praise for his side.

“I’m very happy but not only because of the victory, but because the team was faithful to its idiosyncrasies. We went out for the game, we had more chances and I’m very happy with the personality and the performance of the team. The first 15 minutes we reduced the spaces but we didn’t attack the ball, we lost it very quickly. From then on, the game was ours.”

Pellegrini was also asked about Isco, who scored the winning goal against his former club, whilst also picking up the MVP award from La Liga.

“I think individual performances are always important. Isco has a great level and infects the team with his quality and physical dedication. I’ll take the number of chances and the few times Real Madrid came.”

Betis have now won three in a row in La Liga, and although this turnaround has been impressive, Pellegrini does not believe much has changed from before.

“The fundamental thing has been not to change anything. Against Celta we lost having many scoring chances, you have to have the ambition to know what the team should be like. Not changing has helped us win these three games in a row.”

Pellegrini was also asked about the early substitution for Kylian Mbappe, which Carlo Ancelotti also spoke about during his own post-match press conference.

“I can’t put myself in Carlo’s head. What I saw was a Betis with the personality of going for the game, not for the result.”