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Manuel Pellegrini; Tactical Genius

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Manuel Pellegrini took over from Roberto Mancini only a season after the Italian managed to win the Premier League title ahead of local rivals Manchester United. An unsuccessful 2012-13 season saw the blue side of Manchester lose their title to Sir Alex Fergusson, knocked out from the Champions League group stages and also lose the FA cup final to Roberto Martinez’s Wigan Athletic owing to a late Ben Watson header. It seemed the investment put into the club and the return was not something the owners appreciated and it seemed inevitable that Mancini would make way.







Manuel Pellegrini played his entire career at Chilean side Universidad De Chile. He retired early at the age of 33 as he believed his skill at Civil Engineering would be essential in rebuilding after the earthquakes that had just taken place. 

After managerial stints in Chile and Argentina, Pellegrini was recruited by the yellow submarine. He led them to their record 3rd and 2nd place finishes in the La Liga and was also successful in the Champions league reaching the semifinals and quarter finals on separate occasions before bowing out to Arsenal in each case.



His endeavors at Villareal meant Florentino Perez was eager to lure him to Real Madrid. He immediately signed Ricky Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema for hefty fees from AC Milan, Manchester United, Olympique Lyonnais and Liverpool respectively. After being knocked out of the Champions League and the Copa Del Rey, he was warned, that he had to win the league or else he risked being sacked. Even though he managed to end the season with 96 points, a record high for Real Madrid at that time, FC Barcelona managed to beat Real to the La Liga title.



Having been sacked in favor of The Special One; Jose Mourinho, Pellegrini was recruited by Malaga. Under him, Malaga achieved their best finish in the season in 5th place. Even after losing key players notably Santi cazorla to Arsenal due to monetary issues, he managed to steer Malaga past the round of 16's in the Champions League only to be undone by 2 late goals against in the then German champions Borussia Dortmund. 

The start of 13-14 season, it was announced that Pellegrini would take on the managerial role at Manchester City. City signed Fernandinho from Shakhtar Donetsk, Alavaro Negredo and Jesus Navas from Sevilla in the summer. Following injuries to defenders, he brought in a former player of his, Martin Demichelis, just a month after he signed for Atletico Madrid from Malaga.



After a poor start to the season dropping unnecessary away points, Manchester City soon got back on track and their goal scoring prowess was unrivalled. They managed to break the premier league record by scoring 100 goals in just 34 games, brushing aside huge rivals in the process with big victories. Certainly having played the most attractive football for so long this season, it seems City may have exhausted their goalscoring reserves recently. But, knowing Pellegrini, there is bound to be some more explosives before the end of this season, especially with the return of Sergio Aguero to full fitness.



Manuel Pellegrini has proved time and again that he is an excellent manager and loves his teams to play attacking football (Something we all, as football fans, love to see). Even Arsenal's Santi Cazorla stated in a n interview that the best man to coach him was Manuel Pellegrini, despite being privileged enough to play under Arsene Wenger. That, says a lot about the man.



City fans can continue to except great things from him.
Author:
Kartik Reddy
Twitter: @FeXperimen  - https://twitter.com/FeXperimen


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