Manuel Pellegrini has made a name for himself in football management after his stints with Malaga, Villareal, Manchester City, and hosts of other top clubs.
Now at the helms of affairs at Real Betis, the tactician has so far led Betis to two wins from their opening three La Liga games. It was Real Madrid that ended their 100 percent in La Liga last weekend, losing 3-2 at home.
So, let’s take a look and know who the Chilean coach is.
Pellegrini is a Chilean professional football manager and former player, who has managed several teams in Spain, England, Argentina, Chile, China, and Ecuador.
Pellegrini, who has experienced sucesses in national leagues in four countries moved to Europe in 2004 to be at the helms of affairs at Villarreal.
Pellegrini led the Yellow Submarines to a third-place finish in La Liga during the 2004–05 season and a Champions League semi-final finish in 2005–06. He further broke the duopoly of the big two in 2008 by securing a second-place finish in La Liga in 2007–08.
His good record at Villarreal attracted the attention of Real Madrid and he moved to the Galacticos in 2009. He then amassed a total of 96 points, a club record, which was later surpassed by José Mourinho in the 2011–12 season, but lost the title to Barcelona by three points.
He lost the job after one season and later lamented the Galácticos policy employed at Real which prevented him from building a balanced team.
It didn’t take him long before returning to management. He took up Malaga’s job in November 2010 and led them to a fourth-place finish in his first full season and to qualification for the UEFA Champions League.
He also took them to the quarter-finals of the 2012–13 Champions League, becoming the only coach to take two teams to the Champions League quarter-finals in their debut seasons in the competition.
He later left Málaga at the end of the 2012–13 La Liga season and took up Manchester City offer on 14 June 2013. In his debut season, he won the Football League Cup and Premier League. He, therefore, became the first manager from outside Europe to manage a team to the English Premier League title. The noisy neighbors scored massive 151 goals in all competitions, which was an English football record.
The Chilean also led the Citizens to their first ever semi-final in Champions League in 2015–16, which was his last season after finishing in fourth-place with 66 points.
He left the role to manage a Chinese club, Hebei China Fortune from 2016 to 2018 before leaving the position in May.
West Ham lured him with another offer and he took over the reins in May 2018, lasting 18 months in charge before he was sacked in December 2019 after a poor run of results.
Betis signed him on 9 July 2020 on a three-year deal.
Manuel Pellegrini’s background
Pellegrini was born in Santiago to Italian parents. He attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago, where he graduated in civil engineering in 1979.
He began his football career in the youth divisions of Audax Italiano. He then moved to Club Universidad de Chile where he played professionally as a defender. He played 451 games for the club throughout his entire playing career, scoring seven goals in the Chilean Division 1.
Pellegrini, who played one game for the Chilean national team in a 1–1 draw away to Brazil on 7 May 1986 in a friendly game retired as a player later that year after a match against Sandino.
Manuel Pellegrini’s philanthropic act
In giving back to society, Pellegrini wanted to help reconstruction projects in the Chilean central zone after the 1985 Algarrobo earthquake. This was because of his experience as a qualified civil engineer.
Pellegrini’s Managerial career before moving to Europe and Aisa
After hanging his boot, Pellegrini started off coaching career with Universidad de Chile during the 1988 season. He left the team at the middle of the season to take football coaching courses in Europe.
The team eventually relegated due to poor performance. This was the first time in its history, having won in 1989 the Division 2 championship.
He had experience in the national team in 1990 to be an assistant of Arturo Salah. part of Pellegrini’s work is to coach the under-20 team as well.
Later in the year, he was appointed manager of Palestino, where he stayed until 1992. He then left the role for O’Higgins, where he stayed for a year, before moving in 1993 to become the coach of Universidad Católica, one of the most popular clubs in Chile.
He won the prestigious Copa Interamericana in 1994 and the 1995 Copa Chile with the team and finished in second place in 1994 and 1995 of the local Campeonato Nacional championship.
He then had a brief spell again with Palestino in 1998 before he was signed by Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito.
He led the Ecuadorian club to a national title in 1999. Pellegrini also showed his mettle during the Copa Libertadores, which caught the attention of other South American managers.
San Lorenzo eventually signed him up in 2001 to become one of only two non-Argentinians to manage the Buenos Aires team. He led them to their first international title in the Copa Mercosur, and the Argentine Clausura.
Pellegrini became the manager of another Argentine club River Plate from 2002 to 2003. He secured the Clausura championships in 2003, utilizing the talents of Andrés D’Alessandro, one of many Argentine playmakers to have been compared to Diego Maradona.
After his move to Vfl Wolfsburg, things became difficult for Pellegrini, and his team struggled to defend their status as Argentine champions in the 2003 Torneo Apertura. This led to his resignation from the post at the end of the campaign.
This was his last stint in South American before moving to Europe.
Personal and wife Carola Pucci
Manuel Pellegrini has been married to his wife Carola Pucci since 1988.
The 67-year-old has three chidren namely Nicolas, Juan Ignacio, and Manuel.
Pellegrini’s networth and salary
Pellegrini took a substantial reduction in his pay to take over Real Betis, after rejecting other offers that are superior in economics.
At Betis, he will be earning an annual salary of 5 million euros gross, a major difference from the 10m Euros he earned at West Ham United.
Pellegrini currently net worth according to research is of $40 million.
