And now, a bit about them. What must it have felt like? For years, for decades. To bitterly watch their neighbors, to not be happy during springs that in Andalusia always smell of the sea, to hide in corners when Sevilla wins the Europa League—seven times, in fact—to cry and suffer in the most beautiful part of Spain, unable to enjoy life as they should.They know well what it was like, which is why now they sing, certain there’s still strength in their vocal cords to push the team toward the trophy on May 28th in Wroclaw. To return to the city as champions. To be the ones envied by their neighbors, the ones who hide in their basements until Betis’ celebration is over—if it ends at all…What it means 🥹#UECL | @RealBetis pic.twitter.com/CkvdAnkspi— UEFA Conference League (@Conf_League) May 8, 2025 So much resentment has built up among those people that they’ve earned the right to rejoice. They’ve watched a team struggle, fall into the second division, change coaches, sign who-knows-what kind of players—and now they watch Manuel Pellegrini and trust him. Because the Chilean has taken them somewhere they’ve never been before.Since their founding, the green-and-whites had never gone beyond the quarterfinals of a European competition—when Moscow’s Dynamo knocked them out of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1978. Now they’re fighting for a trophy, even if it’s against Chelsea and Enzo Maresca, who himself says Pellegrini is his footballing father, having coached him at Malaga—that same season when another Andalusian club, led by Pellegrini, thrilled Europe and was controversially eliminated in Dortmund from the Champions League—and later mentored him at West Ham.5 – @RealBetis_en have progressed from five of the seven major European knockout ties in which they won the first leg at home — however the two failures in those ties came in the only games they won by a single goal. Historic.#Betis 🩶💚#BetisDay pic.twitter.com/AgHdg3rJRS— OptaJose (@OptaJose) May 8, 2025 It’s only one match—anything is possible—but after a season like this, the people at Benito Villamarin believe they can go all the way. After all, Pellegrini already brought them one trophy when he won the Copa del Rey in his second season at Betis. And he delighted the (otherwise extremely demanding) supporters with his calm demeanor, ideas, and style.Before his appointment in the summer of 2020, Betis was a schizophrenic club. In six years, they changed eight coaches, and since returning from the Second Division in 2015, they’d only once finished in the top half of the table. But with the Engineer—as he’s not only nicknamed but also professionally qualified—Betis has always finished in European spots.They’ve played in the Europa League three times and the Conference League once. Each time, they exited at the first knockout stage after the group phase, but the club kept their faith. Not with words, but with actions—they extended his contract twice (in 2021 and 2023), and likely will again, as the EuroBetis project lives on. With a clear goal: qualification for the Champions League.🇨🇱💚 Manuel Pellegrini is the manager with the most amount of victories in the history of Real Betis! He has 117 wins in 247 matches, surpassing the likes of Serra Ferrer (116), Pepe Mel (88) and Antonio Barrios (85) at the Spanish club. ✅ pic.twitter.com/3tCPA2Uge5— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) April 23, 2025 The club’s leadership couldn’t have found anyone better than the oldest coach in La Liga. His composure, dedication, adaptability, improvisation, and ability to change both himself and his team inspire optimism and seem appealing even when things look grim. There have been crises, poor performances, even strained relationships over the past five years, but Manuel Pellegrini overcame all of it, proving that he left ego behind long ago and knows how to manage a locker room full of players who each want to be the star—even though the real star is Pellegrini.🗣️ When the knockout draw was made for the #UECL Manuel Pellegrini predicted Betis would face Chelsea. “I sent Enzo a WhatsApp message telling him we would meet in the final in Poland!”. pic.twitter.com/kbmcQAUPeS— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) May 9, 2025 They trust him because he trusts others. Cast-off players from bigger or more glamorous clubs. Pellegrini “fixed” Sergio Canales when he was struggling and launched him into orbit so that the central midfielder began to resemble the Real Madrid talent he once was. Under Pellegrini, Nabil Fekir looked like the guy Liverpool chased while he was giving free football lessons in France with Lyon. It’s no coincidence that German Pezzella and Guido Rodriguez, both nurtured by Pellegrini, became World Cup champions with Argentina. Nor is it random that he asked for Ayoze Perez from “dead” Leicester, revived him, and now he’s a “jack of all trades” flying in Villarreal.We did it TOGETHER! 🤝💚#BetisAlé pic.twitter.com/focdz8fO6d— Real Betis Balompié (@RealBetis_en) May 8, 2025 None of them were ever loved or appreciated in their previous clubs the way they are at Betis. And they play. They fly across the pitch. They enjoy it! That’s the Betis the fans want to see. Pellegrini doesn’t rely on set-piece routines (he conceded two headers against Fiorentina, and also against Bilbao in La Liga), he doesn’t use rigid formations, and he doesn’t have irrelevant players.Everyone plays everything. And everyone matters. The old football man has already won, even before the final. Because he resembles that little old man from the cartoon offering “new lamps for old.” Worn-out ones—or the ones we think are useless—Pellegrini will rub them, and magic will emerge.Manuel Pellegrini in a Kappa set that is every dad’s dream. Beautiful. pic.twitter.com/kXrWw2Mnq5— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) May 9, 2025 And along the way, he’ll offer the football world some of the boys from Betis’ academy. Names like Jesus Rodriguez or Mateo Flores might mean nothing to you now, but you hadn’t heard of Assane Diao either—look at how he’s blossoming in Como. So, after all this, do we really have the right to doubt the Engineer?##NAJAVA_MECA_8916391##
