Demichelis brings ‘competitive aura’ to Leipzig; painful memories for Pellegrini at Dortmund return

Coach Martin Demichelis will be looking to strike a blow against his former employers when his RB Leipzig side host Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Former Argentina centre-back Demichelis spent three seasons at Manchester City, winning the 2013-14 Premier League title and two League Cups.

Demichelis, who also won four league titles as a player at Bayern Munich, is now hoping to bring success to Saxony in a budding coaching career.

Leipzig have beaten City just once in six attempts, but may feel Enzo Maresca’s men are vulnerable.

In their past three games, City have lost twice and won the other match on penalties, as the spectre of sanctions for breaching financial rules looms.

Demichelis, 45, was controversially handpicked by then-Red Bull boss Jurgen Klopp to take over in the summer.

To bring in Demichelis, Leipzig sacked popular coach Ole Werner, who had taken a young team back into the Champions League, while overseeing the development of Yan Diomande.

Real Madrid paid a reported 125 million euros ($140 million) for Diomande, just a year after Leipzig signed him for 20 million euros.

Demichelis was relegated from La Liga during a short stint with Mallorca last season but Klopp and Leipzig had seen enough to convince them of his ability, after he oversaw a significant up-turn in the club’s form.

After a rocky start with Leipzig including a 4-1 loss at Como in the Champions League and a 6-1 thrashing by Bayern Munich, Leipzig have won three games in a row.

The Red Bulls sit just three points off top spot in the Bundesliga, but are in desperate need of points in Europe.

The 2020 semi-finalists are 29th in the 36-team table after winning just one of three Champions League games this campaign.

Demichelis benefited from the tutelage of several big-name coaches, including Louis van Gaal, Manuel Pellegrini, Diego Simeone and his idol Diego Maradona.

Esteve played under another former City player, Vincent Kompany, during his time at Burnley and said Demichelis reminds him of the Belgian, who is now coach of Bayern.

Esteve also has experience defending against Manchester City talisman Erling Haaland in the Premier League.

The Frenchman acknowledged his side had played against freshly minted Ballon d’Or winner Harry Kane only two weeks ago, but called the big Norwegian “the best striker in the world”.

Meanwhile, Veteran Real Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini has regularly produced impressive results at the highest level but his failure to win the Champions League means some hesitate to place him among the managerial elite.

The 73-year-old’s team boast three wins from three in the league phase ahead of Wednesday’s visit to face Borussia Dortmund, the scene of one of the most agonising defeats in his long career.

In 2013 Pellegrini’s Malaga conceded twice in injury time against Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund, to miss out on a Champions League semi-final berth.

It was an especially cruel defeat for Pellegrini, who had attended his father’s funeral in Chile before landing in Germany on the morning of the match.

“They did not want us in the semi-finals,” complained Pellegrini about the officiating afterwards, with Felipe Santana’s winner seemingly scored from an offside position.

That summer Pellegrini moved to Manchester City, winning the Premier League and two League Cups before departing in 2016, without a Champions League trophy.

The evergreen Chilean joined Betis in 2020 and is now enjoying the longest spell in charge of a club in his career.

Pellegrini has stayed faithful to the idea that his teams must entertain and Betis fit the bill, boasting a host of exciting attackers like Isco and Ez Abde.

Pellegrini, who graduated in civil engineering in 1979 while playing at Universidad de Chile, took Betis to their first final in 17 years, winning the Copa del Rey in 2022.

Last season he steered the Andalusians back to Champions League qualification after two decades away from the elite.

Agencies