Manuel Pellegrini laments poor planning by Real Betis in European exit – 'We don't have a team to fight'

Real Betis' European exploits ended on Thursday, as it were they were kicked out of the European Conference League by Dinamo Zagreb. The second leg in the Croatian capital ended 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 face many problems – especially in defence, where he often has only one natural centre-back to choose from. That was the case again on Thursday, as Marc Roca joined Chadi Riad in the backline.

Pellegrini addressed this bad luck, as well as poor planning, when he spoke to the media post-match, as per AS Diary.

“There is a lot of disappointment, we all want to continue in this competition. We have already come out in the Europa League and we cannot beat Dinamo. So there are the circumstances, from which one cannot abstract.

“I already said in August. Playing with only one center back in Europe is very difficult. Registrations, injuries, sales. We don't have a team to fight for what we fought for.”

One can certainly understand Pellegrini's frustration. The fact that The Real Betis they were left with only German Pezzella as a centre-back option during their dismal Europa League group stage campaign, and the same problems returned against Dinamo.