Manuel Pellegrini has awoken a sleeping giant at Real Betis ahead of Seville derby

Just a stone’s throw from the Guadalquivir River in the heart of Seville, a sleeping giant is awakening – and the locals sense that something special is on the horizon.

Manuel Pellegrini is overseeing a tremendous season with Real Betis. The former West Ham boss has taken Los Verdiblancos to third in LaLiga – above Barcelona and Atletico Madrid – while the club advanced to the Europa League last-16 this week.

Betis also hold a 2-1 lead over Rayo Vallecano heading into their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg clash next week. With Real Madrid and Barca eliminated from the competition, the club have a real chance of lifting their first trophy since 2005.

Manuel Pellegrini (above) is awakening a sleeping giant deep in the heart of Seville, Spain

‘We are having an unbelievable season,’ Betis’s sporting director Antonio Cordon, who previously worked wonders with Pellegrini at Villarreal, says with a broad smile. ‘Wherever we go we always usually have good seasons! That’s a joke, but we must keep growing.’ 

While club insiders concede that Betis are exceeding expectations, this is a club that has long contained the potential to explode. 

Outside of Spain, the perception is that Sevilla are the dominant force in the Andalusia region, helped by their impressive collection of Europa League titles in the last decade. Yet Los Verdiblancos are a titan in their own right and boast the third-highest average attendance in LaLiga this season, while the Benito Villamarín Stadium is the fourth-biggest in Spain – behind Madrid, Barca and Atletico’s arenas.

Real Betis are on the cusp of completing their best season in 17 years, amid a superb campaign

Betis boast a loyal support and regularly record big attendances at their 60,000-seat stadium

This is a loyal fanbase that has for large parts been forced to stomach bad times over good. Betis have spent three of the past 12 seasons plying their trade in the Segunda Division and finished a lowly 15th in 2019-20. Despite this, they still registered the fourth-highest average turnout with a gate of 35,240 a game. 

The turning point, Betis fans will attest to, was the arrival of Pellegrini and his trusty lieutenant Cordon in 2020. 

Pellegrini holds a somewhat mixed legacy in England. Having taken Manchester City to the title in 2013-14, the 68-year-old was sent packing by West Ham after a miserable, directionless spell that left many fearing the Chilean’s best days were behind him.

Yet the wily tactician has enjoyed a renaissance in Andalusia and is proving – as he did with Villarreal and Malaga – that he is a force to be reckoned with on these shores. 

That rejuvenation has also been helped by the presence of Cordon. At Villarreal, the pair took the club to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2006 and an unprecedented second place finish in 2008 but went their separate ways in 2009.

A huge part of their recent success is down to the reunion of Pellegrini (left) with sporting director Antonio Cordon (right)

While Pellegrini took on spells at Madrid, City and West Ham, Cordon remained at Villarreal until 2016, before joining Monaco and helped deliver the Ligue 1 title and a remarkable Champions League run to the semi-final. The French side made roughly £300million in player sales that summer.  

Their reunion two years ago, then, saw excitement reverberate through the city for a change of fortune. Yet Cordon’s vast experience and standing in the game could have seen him take his pick of projects across Europe, with there being no shortage of clubs in England, for example, in need of a leader of his expertise. So, why Betis?

‘Passion, suffering, happiness, it was the challenge of awaking a giant and I was very attracted to that idea,’ he says. ‘I am from very close to the area, I love the passion of the Betis fans. 

‘We want to give Betis its own identity and philosophy, with the arrival of Manuel our main idea has always been to create a work model and decision-making model and in the end to become stronger as a group.’

The pair have fostered a ‘competitive but positive atmosphere’ at the club’s training ground

Betis may be 3rd in LaLiga but they rank eighth in terms of revenue, so transfer activity is crucial.  Giovani Lo Celso, Dani Ceballos and Fabian Ruiz have all been sold for big profits, allowing the club to re-invest and strengthen their squad, signing the likes of William Carvalho, Sergio Canales and Borja Iglesias.

The jewel in the crown is Nabil Fekir. The Frenchman made a surprise switch to Andalusia in 2019 for £17.7million, just 12 months on from being on the cusp of a mammoth £53m move to Liverpool from Lyon. 

The 28-year-old recently admitted that the failed Anfield switch was a ‘dark time’, but Betis has allowed him to find joy in football again. His arrival was even a surprise to club insiders, yet it has been a mutually rewarding partnership with Fekir falling in love with Seville – named the top city to visit in the world by Lonely Planet in 2018.

This season, Fekir has scored nine goals in 32 appearances for the club and as such has been linked with another high profile move, with Barcelona reportedly lining up a £60m bid for the Frenchman.

They have also helped turn the fortunes around of Nabil Fekir (left) and Hector Bellerin

Likewise, Willian Jose struggled at Wolves but has scored 10 goals for Betis this season

Fekir’s experience in Betis is not an isolated incident, either. Los Verdiblancos take pride in their ability to transform the fortunes of players in need of a lift. Willian Jose joined the club last summer after a miserable loan spell at Wolves – where he scored just one goal in 18 games. This season, he has already bagged 10 goals in 29 outings for the Spanish club.

Likewise, Hector Bellerin’s progress at Arsenal had been hampered by injuries and inconsistent performances when he asked Mikel Arteta to sanction a loan move to Betis, his boyhood club. The 26-year-old has enjoyed a new lease of life and recently revealed he is ‘happy’ again in Andalusia. 

Cordon explains that giving a player confidence is very simple. 

‘Trust, this is teamwork,’ he says. ‘It is like with your children, children must feel that they are loved by their parents. If players feel like they are loved and useful, if you can incorporate faith into their values, then they can succeed. 

‘With Willian [Jose] we have succeeded with him feeling well and contributing what we wanted him to contribute and he offers a lot of balance to the team.’

Now, Los Verdiblancos are looking to make a big statement against arch rivals Sevilla

The Betis chief believes that fostering a ‘competitive but positive’ environment is crucial in bringing the best out of players, and revealed that he scrutinises every detail to ensure that the club is growing together. 

‘The model is good but the personality of these people is important, the main objective is team building, creating a competitive but positive atmosphere.

‘Before going to a space station, astronauts live as a group. Their skills don’t matter, it’s about their human factors. You have to surround yourself with people that are firm but have a personality. From the doorman to the players, everyone must be smiling. The bus driver must be smiling. I am very careful about all these details. 

‘We have been slowly achieving and this has permeated throughout the club, but then you have to have the skill to make up the team, you have to succeed in bringing in the right players. This is not taken from a book, this is the result of many years of experience.

Real Betis sporting director Antonio Corden (left) speaking with Sportsmail’s Ollie Lewis

And that is perhaps the most significant advantage that Pellegrini and Cordon have over their rivals, experience. In football, we are constantly looking for the next Pep Guardiola, the next youthful, innovative coach to burst onto the scene and change the game. But at a combined age of 126, the Betis duo are innovating through experience.

‘We worked for many years together in Villarreal,’ Cordon says of his relationship with Pellegrini. ‘He arrived a little after [me] in Villareal, we worked together for several years in other places but we still had a really good relationship. 

‘In other places I tried to get him to come. Now we understand each other without even saying things! Manuel doesn’t say much but we understand each other very well.’

Pellegrini may be quiet in person but on the pitch, he has spoken plenty with this Betis side. On Sunday, Los Verdiblancos will look to make another statement of intent in this magical season.