Mourinho apologizes to Pellegrini for 2011 remarks ahead of Betis clash

There are things people say that, years later, they wish they'd never uttered. That's exactly what happened to Jose Mourinho with Manuel Pellegrini, and this week he finally decided to clear the air. The Real Madrid manager opened up at the press conference ahead of the match against Real Betis, set to be played at the La Cartuja stadium in Matchday 4 of LaLiga, and apologized for comments that had followed him for more than ten years.

It all goes back to 2011, when Mourinho was in his first stint in charge of Real Madrid, a job he'd landed right after Pellegrini's exit from the Bernabeu bench. At the time, the Portuguese coach fired off a sharp line about the Chilean, saying that if he were ever fired by Madrid, he wouldn't go coach Malaga, Pellegrini's club at the time, but rather "a big club." An unnecessary jab that, with the passing of years, Mourinho himself now admits was a mistake.

"I don't regret anything, because we can't turn back time. But over my long career in soccer, there have been moments and words that, looking back, make you feel like an idiot, like you got it wrong. With him, I said some things, made some very stupid comments," he admitted on Thursday. He even allowed himself a joke about how that rivalry ended up costing him in another way: he recalled that in the Premier League title Pellegrini won with Manchester City, if Liverpool had drawn against his Chelsea side, the trophy would have gone to Anfield instead. It didn't happen that way.

But the moment that seems to have stuck with Mourinho most came during a friendly between Betis and Roma, when the Italian side, then coached by Mourinho, was down to seven men on the pitch after a string of red cards. According to Mourinho, Pellegrini could have run up the score without any guilt, and yet chose not to widen the gap. "He's a great coach, an example as a person. I like him a lot. Tomorrow, a hug before, a hug after," the Madrid boss said, finishing with a laugh.

Pellegrini's response

The apology also reached Pellegrini, who took it in stride, with the calm of someone who has already seen everything soccer has to offer. The Chilean coach, who will face the club he led during the 2009/10 season, played down the drama and pointed to another party as the real culprit: the media.

We've gone through many years of competing against each other, both of us have won and lost. He made those comments a long time ago, and the press went looking for a feud that never really existed.Manuel Pellegrini

The Betis coach went further, acknowledging how Mourinho has changed over time. He said he has "an excellent opinion of him as a coach," since "he was always a great manager," but he also noted a shift off the field: "Now he seems more mature and more measured in what he says." For Pellegrini, his time at Malaga, the very club that irritated Mourinho so much back then, was "one of the best decisions" of his career.

With peace made before kickoff, all that's left is the match itself. And there, apologies aside, neither man is going to give an inch.