Real Betis’ European exploits came to an end on Thursday, as they were knocked out of the Europa Conference League by Dinamo Zagreb. The second leg in the Croatian capital finished 1-1, which meant a 2-1 aggregate defeat for Los Verdiblancos.
It brings to an end a tumultuous campaign in Europe for Betis. Manuel Pellegrini has had to deal with multiple problems – largely in defence, where he has often only had one natural centre-back to choose from. That was the case again on Thursday, as Marc Roca partnered Chadi Riad in the backline.
Pellegrini rued this bad luck, and also bad planning, when he spoke to the media post-match, as per Diario AS.
“There is a lot of disappointment, we all wanted to continue in this competition. We already went out in the Europa League and we couldn’t beat Dinamo. Then there are the circumstances, from which one cannot abstract.
“I already said it in August. Playing with just one centre back in Europe is very difficult. Registrations, injuries, sales. We did not have a squad to fight for what we fought for.”
You can certainly understand Pellegrini’s frustration. The fact that Real Betis were left with only German Pezzella as a centre-back option during their Europa League group stage campaign was mind boggling, and the same problems re-surfaced against Dinamo.
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