(AFP) - The competition between Portuguese Jose Mourinho, the Italian coach of Rome, and his Chilean counterpart, Manuel Pellegrini, has flared up at Real Betis in recent years, but Thursday's confrontation in Group C of the fourth round of the European League competition "Europa League" will carry with it the decisive factor. for the two clubs.

From the third round of Rome, with 3 points from a victory and two defeats, the meeting will be a hope to stay within the qualification circle to the final price, while Betis, the leader with a full score (9 points), can reserve his seat for the second round if he succeeds at his Benito Villamarin Stadium, where he shines from the beginning The new season to repeat its victory over its guest.

The fates of the coaches intertwined, as Mourinho (59 years old) was appointed coach of Real Madrid in the year 2010 following President Florentino Perez’s decision to dismiss Pellegrini, but the successful career of the Portuguese coach who led the “Merengue” to a record harvest with 96 points was not enough to beat his arch-rivals Barcelona. And his coach, Pep Guardiola (the current English coach of Manchester City), and his 99 points.

Mourinho said at the time, when asked about the possibility of Peres giving up his services, "If Madrid gets rid of me, I will not go to Malaga training, I will be at the highest levels in Italy or England."

However, Malaga was the new destination for Pellegrini (69 years) after his departure from the capital, Madrid, and he led him to fourth place in “La Liga” with a record number of points in the club’s history (58), and then in the following season to the quarter-finals of the Champions League competition, where He narrowly lost to Germany's Borussia Dortmund.

Inside the green rectangle, Real Mourinho outperformed Malaga Pellegrini on several occasions, including the sweeping victory by seven clean, and while the Portuguese succeeded in winning the Spanish League title in 2012, the Chilean coach's record remained devoid of this cup.

The two coaches met again, but in the English Premier League, with Mourinho returning to coach Chelsea after he left him in 2007 to embark on a successful adventure with Italian Inter (2008-2010) and then to Real, while Pellegrini sat on the Manchester City bench (2013-2016).

The Chilean refused to shake hands with the Portuguese after Chelsea beat City 2-1 in 2014, but in the end he finally laughed after leading Citizens to win the Premier League.

The numbers tend in favor of Mourinho, with 8 wins from 16 confrontations compared to 3 draws, knowing that the last meeting between the coaches in Italy in the previous stage of the “Europa League” was in favor of Pellegrini and his winning team 2-1.

The engineer Pellegrini loves to play beautiful and display football, and he succeeded in imposing his ideas with Betis without sacrificing results.

And the ranks of the Andalusian club are full of stars, starting from the top scorer Borja Iglesias to the legendary winger Joaquin (41 years), passing through the French playmaker Nabil Fekir and Sergio Canales, as Pellegrini succeeded in leading him to win his fourth title in his history and the first since 2015 by winning the local cup last year, as was the title. The first for the Chilean coach since winning the FA Cup in 2016.

"Mourinho had a winning streak and made the decision to move to Rome," Pellegrini said in a wink on his Portuguese counterpart's channel.

He added, "I remember when I went to Malaga after Real, (Mourinho) said then that he would not coach a team like Malaga."

And he added, “I was proud to go there (Malaga) because I liked the challenge, and it was a new project … I think the same thing happened with Mourinho.” Europe or winning the Conference League.

Although the two coaches buried the axes of war, the battle will flare up again on Thursday evening, as the victory of Real Betis will bring it closer to qualifying as the leader of one of the groups, which will prevent it from facing a team coming from the Champions League.
On the other hand, Mourinho needs a new victory in Europe to raise his tally to 107 victories in all continental competitions, which will make him break the record he shares with former Manchester United Scottish coach Alex Ferguson (106).
These statistics link Mourinho's successful career at his peak with his new adventure in Rome, and although Pellegrini has every respect for his counterpart, he plans to make life difficult for his old rival in Seville.
And Group E, Manchester United of England will seek to renew its victory over Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus, but this time at its home, “Old Trafford”, where it has six points in second place, in an effort to catch up with leaders Real Sociedad of Spain (9 points in the lead) and hosts Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova.
In the first group, English Arsenal (6 points) and Dutch Eindhoven (4) will continue their efforts to qualify, as the first is a guest on Bodo Glimt of Norway, while the second hosts Zurich, Switzerland.
Two French teams will have the opportunity to snatch the top spot in their groups. In the second, Rennes will defeat Ukrainian Dynamo Kiev in Poland due to the conflict in Ukraine, while Monaco will head to Turkey to face Trabzonspor.