Pellegrini: Real Madrid did not deserve to draw with us, and we punished Mourinho's team with their own strength

Will he provoke the Special One?

Real Betis boss Manuel Pellegrini put his side's win over Real Madrid down to one thing: taking their chances. The Chilean insisted the referee had no bearing whatsoever on the result.

Pellegrini brushed aside Jose Mourinho's suggestion that Betis had set out only for a draw, or that the officials proved decisive. His team, he said, went into the game chasing three points from the first whistle.

Speaking to Spanish newspaper "As", Pellegrini reflected on the match: "The team went out to win from the very first minute against a big opponent, and of course that is difficult. In the second half we had more possession of the ball, and they arrived with set pieces that Alvaro Valles saved, but we were the ones who scored the goal. Perhaps a draw would have been a fair result, but we converted the chance that came to us and they did not."

A testing week had come before this. "I passed on to the players the same message I have been repeating throughout the past seven years," Pellegrini explained. "Football gives you only 24 hours to enjoy victories and to suffer defeats. We must understand what happened against Levante, carry out good self-criticism, and after 24 hours be convinced of what we are doing."

How did his players bounce back? "I was confident we would show a reaction because I have seen that for seven years," he said. "We do not get carried away by victories nor do we flagellate ourselves over defeats. The ambition always remains the same despite the stumbles, and it is difficult for us to suffer two consecutive stumbles."

His substitutions changed the game, and the manager knew exactly why. "Individual performance is what makes changes successful. Fatigue began to show because of the heat and I think refreshing the midfield was a good thing, but it is the players who make the changes good or bad. And the players who came on entered the match with extremely sharp focus."

Madrid carried a real aerial threat, but Betis answered it. "Real Madrid have players with great strength in aerial duels, but we too scored from a set piece," Pellegrini added.

He finished by returning to the officiating: "I do not think there was any impact from the refereeing, and I do not think there were decisive decisions that affected the result. We won because we took a chance and they did not."