Pellegrini: We need to be at our best
Real Betis manager Manuel Pellegrini says his task at Old Trafford has not been affected by Manchester United's defeat to Liverpool, and his side must perform to their optimal level to succeed on Thursday night.
The boss of our Europa League visitors admitted he watched only half of the Anfield game live on TV - the half in which United could have taken the lead.
"It really was unbelievable," said Pellegrini, when a reporter requested his reaction to the shock scoreline.
"I was watching the first 45 minutes because after that we had to play against Real Madrid so I couldn't see when Liverpool scored the other six goals.
"But of course I understood immediately what would happen at Manchester United. In their rivalry with Liverpool, for them to concede that amount of goals, it would not be easy for them. But I am a Manchester City fan also so I was not very sad about what happened."
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One local reporter asked whether United's loss at the weekend had made it more difficult to plan for Thursday's game.
“I don’t think so, it depends how they react to that defeat," the Real Betis boss replied.
"Their players and the manager have already talked about bouncing back and fixing the situation. I don’t think they’re going to go out and play thinking about their last game, so we’re not going to go out thinking about that either.
"We’re going to face a very difficult team, and we have to be at our best to get a good result here.
“I played two Champions League games with Villarreal when United were managed by Sir Alex Ferguson. When I was with City and then West Ham I played against United. The rivalry with City was unbelievable.“
In fact, it's another fixture, from earlier in the campaign, that the Real Betis manager draws encouragement from ahead of this first competitive meeting between the clubs.
"If Real Sociedad managed to win here, it means we can do the same thing," said Pellegrini.
"If you see what’s been happening, a lot of Spanish teams have managed to win against English teams in the Champions League. It's difficult to know what they are going to think about us, but I’m completely sure that we’re going to play as always if we want to go into the next round."
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When asked what he might be dreaming of at the Theatre of Dreams, the 41-year-old responded:
“Well, it’s easy to dream here. [We want to] have a good game and compete at the level that these kind of games deserve.
“[We want to] dream about getting a good result. Of course, [we want] our fans to be happy after watching us play compete against a huge team like Manchester United.”
With thanks to Florencia Bernasconi for translation.