Pellegrini gets Real backing

Coach gets backing of director general after loss to Lyon

Last updated: 10th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Pellegrini gets Real backing

Pellegrini: Backed

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Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini has received the backing of director general Jorge Valdano after the Spanish giants crashed out of the UEFA Champions League to Lyon.

Miralem Pjanic's late strike cancelled out Cristiano Ronaldo's opener to see the French outfit progress into the quarter-finals with a 2-1 aggregate victory.

The result saw Madrid crash out at the first knockout stage of the competition for the sixth successive season and came after an investment of close to a quarter of a billion euros in players in the summer.

Asked in an interview with Spanish television whether Chilean Pellegrini would still be in charge next season, Valdano said: "Yes, he has a contract, which is why the club's plans are for Manuel to continue being the coach of Real Madrid.

Respect

"Pellegrini is the coach of Real Madrid, we respect him, of course, and we trust in his work.

"There is still a lot to be done."

He added: "It's is a sad night because we were very excited about this competition but we are not going to exaggerate the situation on the basis of one match."

In a separate television interview, Pellegrini said his future depended on the club's management board and he planned to continue working, with the domestic league now Real's only chance of silverware this season.

Big slip-up

He said: "It was a very big slip-up. Tomorrow we have to think about continuing the fight for the league title."

He added: "We didn't score enough goals in the first half to be able to play calmly in the second half.

"We didn't try to get the second goal collectively, we were making too many individual plays."