MADRID, 22 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Real Betis, Manuel Pellegrini, has assured that the work of Diego Pablo Simeone at the head of Atlético de Madrid, the Verdiblancos’ rival this Sunday at the Benito Villamarín and “one of the most powerful teams in LaLiga”, is ” extraordinary”, and has encouraged not to relax despite having won all the league games at home.
“Diego Simeone’s work at Atlético de Madrid is extraordinary. He has been with the same team for ten years, which competes every year for important things. He has kept it at the top after a long time. His work is unquestionable. Atlético de Madrid has been a great fortune to have a coach of the quality of Diego Simeone”, he declared at a press conference.
In addition, he is convinced that it will be “a very complicated game”, like “all the games in this League”. “Regardless of who they play against, my mentality is not to consider any rival neither impossible nor easy, because both things lead to a bad mentality for the match. We are going to face one of the most powerful teams in LaLiga, so indicates his budget, his last seasons and the last eight or ten years since Diego Simeone has been here. We will have to play a great game if we want to score points”, he warned.
On the other hand, the Chilean coach does not believe that the rojiblancos are already thinking about their transcendental Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen. “I don’t think Atlético de Madrid is thinking about Wednesday’s game. The most important game is the game that has to be played, and it’s on Sunday. LaLiga is as important as the European competition and they’re going to try to score three more points here,” he stressed.
“I expect an Atlético de Madrid that has a totally defined style with Simeone: it waits for you at the back, it likes more to give the initiative to win against, but it has players and variants to make different systems. The important thing, although we always worry about the rival, It’s not being obsessed with what Atlético de Madrid is going to do, but rather keeping an eye on us and playing a good game”, he underlined.
Regarding the Frenchman Nabil Fekir, he confirmed that he is in the call, although he did not want to reveal if he will do so from the start. “We will see the team that is going to start tomorrow, it is yet to be decided. We will see if Nabil starts it or plays for a few minutes,” he said, also announcing the casualties of Juanmi, Sergio Canales and Víctor Camarasa. “The team is fine, no problems,” he added about the rest.
However, he did not want to go into the controversial reasons for the expulsion of the Cantabrian midfielder by referee Mateu Lahoz in the match against Cádiz. “There is a regulation that is clear, there is a referee who has the authority to expel; he used that authority and expelled him. I do not find the reasons of greater importance, the important thing unfortunately is that we do not have Sergio for tomorrow’s game. After There is what he told me, what he did not tell me, but personally I do not give it greater importance. The expulsion is done and Sergio is suspended for a game, “he clarified.
Finally, Pellegrini did not want to advance who he thinks will replace Canales in midfield. “We are considering different alternatives; it could be William, it could be Joaquín, it could be Rodri… Let’s see what the best solution is,” he said.
