Manuel Pellegrini

Manuel Luis Pellegrini Ripamonti (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈnwel peleˈɣɾini]; Italian: [pelleˈɡriːni]; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of La Liga club Real Betis. He has managed clubs in Spain, England, Argentina, Chile, China, and Ecuador, winning league titles in four different countries.

Pellegrini first moved to Europe in 2004 to take the manager's post at Spanish side Villarreal. Under Pellegrini, Villarreal achieved a third-place finish in La Liga in 2004–05, a Champions League semi-final in 2005–06, and a historic second-place finish in La Liga in 2007–08.

Pellegrini's consistent record at Villarreal attracted the attention of Real Madrid, who appointed him as manager for the 2009–10 season. He amassed a total of 96 points, a club record until it was surpassed by José Mourinho in the 2011–12 season, but lost the title to Barcelona by three points. He was dismissed after one season and later lamented the Galácticos policy employed by Madrid, which prevented him from building a balanced team.

Pellegrini took up the manager's role at Málaga in November 2010. He led Málaga to a fourth-place finish in La Liga in his first full season and to qualification for the UEFA Champions League. He made it to the quarter-finals of the 2012–13 Champions League, becoming the only coach to take two different teams to the quarter-finals in their debut seasons in the competition. On 22 May 2013, Pellegrini confirmed he would leave Málaga at the end of the 2012–13 season.

On 14 June 2013, he was appointed manager of Manchester City, and won the Football League Cup and Premier League in his first season, becoming the first manager from outside Europe to manage a team to the Premier League title. The title winning season was also noted for goal scoring prowess, with City scoring 151 goals in all competitions – an English football record. Pellegrini also managed to take Manchester City to their first ever Champions League semi-final in 2015–16, which was his last season, after finishing in fourth-place the league, and winning another Football League Cup.

He was appointed as manager of West Ham United in May 2018 and lasted 18 months in charge, before he was sacked in December 2019 after a poor run of results. On 9 July 2020, Spanish club Real Betis announced that he would manage the side for the 2020–21 season.