Manuel Pellegrini, technician of the Betis, valued very positively the work done by his footballers in the Camp Nou, where in a very serious game, with great defensive commitment and taking advantage of the best opportunity to score, they managed to take three very important points that fully put the Verdiblancos in the fight for the positions of Champions in the classification.
What does this victory mean for Betis?
“For Betis there are three more points in a campaign in which we are finishing the first round. The more points we achieve, the better. Having beaten Barcelona in their field, a difficult team, a great team, gives double merit to the team Perhaps before the game there were some criticisms that we couldn’t win against the greats. We are going to play on any field always in the same way that we always play at home against any team. That is an important base. Even if we lost today, If I have to come to play with Barcelona, Real Madrid or Atlético de Madrid defending behind and changing the whole system, it would not be my way of looking at football. They are very well valued points, but those that one loses in home against rivals of our level. We are adding and in that giving confidence to the group, which I think played a very diligent game. Personally, it is a joy because the team continues to advance around a football idea “.
A match of alternatives
“He had alternatives, the first half was very balanced, the last 15 minutes were ours, we had at least four or five forays through the right sector of his defense that were very dangerous that unfortunately did not end in a goal. The second half Barcelona dominated, At or better without creating many chances, a couple of dangerous shots on the outside. We looked for the back of the defenders because they left more and more space. We had Juanmi’s goal annulled by the VAR by millimeters. And then in a great play we managed to specify that much. The important thing is that we were very applied defensively without getting back, playing as we always do, and we managed to beat Barcelona in their field “.
What did you think of Barcelona
“Barcelona continues to have a great squad. We had studied it, they were at the moment to beat them here, they were in a system change that Xavi is surely very clear about what he is going to do. But we were not afraid to come to look for the points. Betis I have enough to do analysis, what happens with Barça I do not think I am the one in charge of breaking it down at the moment “.
A transcendent triumph
“Yes, I have also said it in the case of Juanmi. Individuality is very important, but there has to be a team operation. One of the great merits of this squad has been precisely to be within the first places of LaLiga always, to have qualified for the next round in Europe, and it is because we have achieved with an alternate squad in different formations and each one is very committed to what we do and with high performance. We knew we could replace Fekir, without ignoring the importance he has, but At no point did we think we had less chance because Fekir didn’t play. We came to play the game from the beginning and luckily we did it. “
Sergio Canales’s party
“Sergio has been coming for several games raising his level a lot. He is a very important player for us, as I said with Juanmi and Nabil, within a team performance. Sergio accommodates himself to different functions, today he played higher, he was dangerous with his unchecked, he was involved in the play of the goal. And he also has a lot of physical delivery that allowed us to slow down Barcelona’s ball from their field a lot “.
The defensive work of Betis
“Defensively we fulfilled the eleven within what we expected, each one in his place. Canales and Willian José slowed Barça’s ball out a lot, the centrals were very applied, we pressed the bands well … We knew that Barcelona, above all On the left side with Jordi Alba he is dangerous, and he was finishing most of his plays with crosses in the previous games. And in that the entire defensive part was very applied “.
