Manuel Luis Pellegrini Ripamonti (born 16 September 1953 in Santiago) is a former Chilean footballer and current coach of Real Madrid.
Club career
Pellegrini attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago,[1] where he graduated as a civil engineer 1979.
As a footballer, he played his entire career for Universidad de Chile, making a total of 451 appearances, scoring 1 goal.
Managerial career
As a coach, he has managed teams mostly in Argentina and Chile. San Lorenzo obtained their first international title while Pellegrini was manager.
Chile
He started coaching Universidad de Chile during the 1988 season, year in which he unfortunately lost the category, a very disappointing situation for one of the most popular clubs in the country. After coaching Palestino and O`Higgins, he became coach of Universidad Catolica, another one of the biggest clubs from Chile, and he had an amazing team with players such as Alberto Acosta and Nestor Gorosito, but he could only finish as runner-up during 1994 and 1995 seasons.
LDU Quito
Pellegrini coached Ecuadorian club LDU Quito to a national title in 1999, starting a tradition of coaches that followed him to the Ecuadorian team. He had a good presentation in Copa Libertadores with the team that put him in the eye of GM's of other South American teams.
San Lorenzo
The years with Universidad Catolica were fundamental in his career as Nestor Gorosito, an Icon of San Lorenzo of Argentina, would later on recommend Pellegrini to the team and his recommendation would reap rewards when the Chilean coach led Los Cuervos to the 2001 Clausura title and the Copa Mercosur, South America's UEFA Cup equivalent.
River Plate
Pellegrini secured the Clausura championships at Los Milionarios (2003) in which he utilised the talents of Andres D'Alessandro, one of many Argentine playmakers to have been likened to Diego Maradona. However his sale to Vfl Wolfsburg proved a tough hurdle for Pellegrini to overcome and his side struggled to defend their status as Argentine champions in the 2003 Torneo Apertura. He quit his post at the end of the campaign.
Villarreal
Pellegrini took over the managerial duties of Villarreal on July 1, 2004. In his first season in charge of the club, Villarreal qualified for the Champions League after finishing third in the league and reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. The following season Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League 2005-06, losing to Arsenal. Villarreal eventually finished seventh in La Liga that year. The following two seasons featured Villarreal finishing in both 5th and 2nd place in the league, the latter being historic for the club. Pellegrini led "The Yellow Submarines" to the Champions league knockout stages, where they drew Arsenal once again in the quarter-finals, losing out 4-1 on aggregate.
According to percentage of points gained, Pellegrini is the second most successful South American club manager in La Liga within the last 25 years, coming after Vanderlei Luxemburgo.[2]
At the end of 2007, Villarreal offered him an extended contract until 2011. On June 1, 2009, Villareal executive announced that Pellegrini would no longer continue at the club. The Valencian club executive specified that if Real Madrid wanted to sign the Chilean coach, they would have to pay Pellegrini's 4 million euros termination clause.[3]
Real Madrid
On June 1, 2009, Pellegrini was announced as Real Madrid's new manager with his formal presentation to follow on June 2.[4] He joins Real Madrid as the first manager in Florentino Pérez's second stint as Real Madrid president. After a few days, Pellegrini scouted Kaká from AC Milan because he said "If we want to win the Champions League and be the best team in the world, we need the best players in the world".[5]
Honours
Manager
- Villarreal
- Individual
Manager
- As of 12 December 2009.
| Team |
Nat |
From |
To |
Record |
| P |
W |
D |
L |
Win % |
| Villarreal |
 |
July 1, 2004 |
May 31, 2009 |
259 |
123 |
72 |
64 |
47.49 |
| Real Madrid |
|
June 2, 2009 |
Present |
22 |
16 |
2 |
4 |
72.73 |
References
External links
|
Club de Fútbol Universidad de Chile – Managers |
|
Tirado (1938–41) · Scopelli (1941–45) · Tirado (1946–49) · Nocetti (1950) · Scopelli (1950–52) · Busquets (1952) · Ormos (1953–54) · Alamos (1954) · Tirado (1955) · Alamos (1956–1966) · Scopelli (1967–68) · Urrutia (1968) · Ramos (1969–1974) · Musso (1974) · Tassara (1975) · Ibarra (1975–77) · Oyarzún (1978) · Ramos (1978) · Riera (1978–80) · Rodríguez (1981) · Riera (1981–82) · Ramos (1983–84) · Carrasco (1984) · Ibarra (1985) · Sánchez (1985–86) · Riera (1987) · Sánchez (1987) · Quintano (1987) · Pellegrini (1988–89) · Ibarra (1989) · Rodríguez (1990) · Morales (1991) · Quintano (1991) · Salah (1992–94) · Socías (1994–95) · Russo (1996) · Hernández (1997–99) · Vaccia (1999–2001) · Castañeda (2002–03) · Pinto (2004–05) · Huerta (2006) · Capitano (2007) · Socías (2007) · Salah (2007–08) · Markarián (2009) · Basualdo (2009) · Pelusso (2010–)
|
|
|
Villarreal CF – Managers |
|
González (1990–91) · Bendezu (1992) · Simón (1992–95) · Uriarte (1995) · Vidal (1995–96) · Subirats (1996) · Irulegui (1996–99) · Caparrós (1999–2000) · Paquito (2000c) · Muñoz (2000–03) · Floro (2003–04) · Paquito (2004c) · Pellegrini (2004–09) · Valverde (2009–)
(c) caretaker
|
|
.jpg)
