Pellegrini: “The team killed themselves for 90 minutes”

Manuel Pellegrini, in his assessment of the match with HJK, was left with the best of the night: three points, qualification and a clean sheet. Objective accomplished. For the Engineer, the team’s attitude was correct although they could be accused of a lack of football. «Very happy. We won 1-0 without scoring goals. We kept the score blank after two games. The team spent 90 minutes trying to make a difference and we had chances but we didn’t make them. It wasn’t because of intensity and desire; There was a lot of lack of pause, quality and precision. Due to the characteristics of the players, we lacked breaks and football. We wanted to get there quickly, directly. It would have been important to do the second to achieve that tranquility and that pause, but the tension was maintained from the first to the last minute. “We achieved classification,” analyzed the green and white coach.

He was asked in Movistar about the grade he gave to the team’s performance in this section in the Conference, which ended with three wins, one draw and two losses. Ten points in total. “More than approved,” said the Engineer. I cannot separate the Conference from LaLiga and the Cup. We have had eight or nine injured, many players from the reserve team and we are in three competitions. We are still in the short two and in LaLiga we are three points behind Europe. The semester leaves me largely satisfied,” Pellegrini said.

With the recovery of the injured and the inclusion of some of those not registered in this phase, such as Isco, Betis must improve. «The characteristics of the players are very important. I would have liked to have had more football, but we didn’t have that player with precision and vision of the game on the field. We play forward and with intensity. In that sense we did well, but with the ball we lacked precision to do damage. “It was a very direct team with a lot of attitude and little precision,” the Engineer continued analyzing, satisfied with the predisposition of his players on the field of play. «What has been least lacking is ambition. Football was missing. We seek to win from the first minute. We wanted to do it but we didn’t get the opportunities. Now we have to play in the round of 32 and compete against whoever is our turn,” he summarized.

Chimy Ávila, with his usual dedication, was one of the most outstanding of the green and white team. «Chimy was the image of the team. An accelerated team that wanted to go everywhere running, putting in crosses and accelerating, all that Chimy gives us. They are also the characteristics of Assane, Abde, Jesús… Chimy gave us spirit, which is very important. The team can be criticized for a lack of football, but not for a lack of intensity, pressure or desire. In that we more than fulfilled and Chimy was the bulwark,” Pellegrini concluded.