HOME > Football

37 years of suffering! The 71-year-old former Real Madrid coach enters the European finals for the first time and once led Manchester City Huang to the top four in the Champions League

8:07pm, 12 May 2025【Football】

On May 9, in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals, La Liga team Real Betis eliminated Serie A team Fiorentina away and entered the Europa League final. For Betis coach and 71-year-old Pellegrini, this victory has special significance. In the first leg, Betis defeated Fiorentina 2-1 at home. Today comes to the away game, and Betis has a perfect start. In the 30th minute, Anthony scored an unsolved free kick world wave, and Betis led 1-0 away, with a total score of 3-1.

However, Florence did not give up. Before the end of the first half, Gossens headed the ball in a corner offense twice in a row, and Fiorentina tied the total score 3-3. In the second half, Betis failed to score, which made Pellegrini on the sidelines very anxious.

Entered overtime, Anthony saved the master, and the Brazilian striker gave a selfless assist to help his teammate Ezalo Zoli score. In the end, Betis advanced away and reached the final of the UEFA League. In the final, Betis' opponent will be Chelsea. On paper, Chelsea's strength is far above Betis. After the

game, the 71-year-old Pei Gong was very excited. This was his first time leading the team to the European finals. Since he became the head coach in 1988, he has worked as a coach for 37 years, coaching top teams such as Real Madrid, Manchester City, Villarreal, etc., but has never entered the European finals before.

When Huang Qian and Manchester City coached, Pellegrini led the team to the Champions League semi-finals, but failed both times. In the 2005-06 season, he led Villarreal to the Champions League quarterfinals and lost 0-1 to Arsenal in two rounds in the semi-finals; in the 2015-16 season, he led Manchester City to the Champions League quarterfinals again, but lost 0-1 to Real Madrid in two rounds.

Pellegrini has coached at Betis for almost 5 years. Not long ago, he just became Betis's coach with the most winning games in history and was regarded as the best coach in team history by Betis fans. At 3 a.m. on May 29, Pet will lead Betis to launch an attack on the first European championship.