Betis host the LaLiga leaders on Saturday with Pellegrini accepting they're rank underdogs.
The medical report:
"The squad for this match will be the same as for the Copa del Rey, plus Isco. Neither Pablo Fornals nor Johnny are yet in a condition to be included in the squad. Isco is now fit to play a few minutes."
Getting rid of the burden of the Copa:
"Well, with confidence and the best confidence is to win. You read that it's easy to win. But there are several teams in the First Division that are no longer there, others that won in the last few minutes. The Copa is complicated, the difference is not that great between the teams. Motivation also has a high impact on the results. Luckily, as I said, it's not that easy, we qualified and hopefully that will help us to get out of the negative results quickly. The most important thing is to continue within the footballing line that we have been following for a long time."
How many minutes is Isco eligible for?
"Well, if he's in the squad, he's fit to play. How many minutes? I think we have to be cautious and calm. He hasn't played for almost a year, practically eight months. So, depending on how he feels in the games, the minutes he's fit to play will increase."
Pulling off a surprise against Barça:
"We always believe in what we do. And we've been able to do that over the last four years. We're trying to get through better times, worse times, but with conviction in what we're doing and confidence in the squad, that they'll turn around the results that haven't been good in LaLiga. Barcelona and Real Madrid will always be favourites, but in football, results are there to be shown on the pitch. We're going to go out like always, to try to win the match from the first minute and hopefully we'll have high performances and that the team will function as it did three weeks ago or a month ago."
Glass half full or half empty after qualifying in the Copa?
"Well, neither one nor the other. I already made the criticism of the match. The important thing was to qualify. I have said it many times, I always say it to the players, it seems easy to us, but it is not easy. Several, as I say, were left out. Others, like Atlético de Madrid, equalised, I think, in the 83rd minute. Then they sent off a player and they could have won. Osasuna, well, all the teams, Real Sociedad, a team that also, I think in the 115th, 117th minute. The beauty of the Cup is that, the motivation for a team is tremendous.
"As much as one wants, one always believes that the players who are going to win, are going to win without playing. You have to really win by giving 100% because in football, two or three balls change a result. So I am left with the satisfaction, as I say, of having qualified for the next round, which was the important thing. The victory, as I also just answered, always helps."
Is Europe a challenge or an obligation?
"Well, what you achieve at the end of the season you show during the week. In other words, there's no way to set a goal if you don't meet it afterwards. The goal in December, as I said a couple of weeks ago, is to be alive in the two competitions in which you can be eliminated. We're already in one, hopefully we can do it in the Conference too. In LaLiga, get the most points and then in the second half we have to show what we're here for. We already know what Betis is, what position they're in. We've achieved it in previous years and we're going to keep looking for it in each of the games we play."
The welcome at Villamarín:
"I hope, as it has been all these years, a fan base that will be permanently supporting. They have always been behind the team in good times, in bad times. Also a team that gets the fans to support it from the start. We are going out to look for the game, which we are going to do as we have always done."
Abde and Bartra, also against their former team:
"Abde's performance is a personal one. All three of them, Vitor, Abde and Bartra, will be motivated to win and to get the three points for Betis regardless of the rival we face."
Is Barça the best team in LaLiga right now?
"Well, Barça have two defeats and a draw in the last few games. Now they played an early game against Mallorca, which they won again. So right now they are the leaders and have shown that they are the best team. And even the best teams go through difficult times, as Real Madrid are going through at the moment. Atlético de Madrid had a difficult time, now they have won six or seven games in a row. Football, football, they are going to have to prove this week after week because things change."
The danger of Raphinha and Lamine on the wings:
"Well, they are two very important players and they are also having a very good moment. But I don't think they are the only players. Maybe we will mark them and we will have Lewandowski, we will have Olmo, we will have all the quality players that Barcelona have. So we have to try, as I say, to have the personality to go out and play the game as we normally do and taking, of course, precaution in some aspects and then we will see what is the best way to solve it."
The test with Ricardo Rodríguez as pivot:
"Well, first of all, it was a very easy decision to make, I think it was the easiest one I had to make in that match. There was no other. Sergi Altimira was not in condition to play against us, he did not train the day before and he was contracted. Mateo Flores is more of a back-and-forth midfielder than an expectation. We played with two midfielders like Iker Losada and Gio Lo Celso, who are more forwards than markers. We reinforced the defence, we tried Ricardo Rodríguez in that position, who has played on other occasions. So if there was an easy decision, it was that one.
"But if there had been another alternative, I would have done it because I wanted to see him in that position. Afterwards, one analyses their performances personally with them, but as a coach one has to have, especially in a match that is theoretically as easy as it always seems to be, one has to see variations. So if I had to do it again, I have no doubt that I would do it again. As I say, I start because none of us was in condition to play. Especially Sergi, who had to play for quite a long period of time, because, well, we have Mar Roca injured, William Carvallo is not here, we don't have Johnny Cardoso, Pablo Fornals is out, so Sergi had a significant amount of minutes. And if I insist again, Sergi wasn't in condition to play either."
What did you think of Ricardo's response?
"Ricardo's response? I discuss the individual analysis with them, in the collective part of the team, and I gave him my opinion."
Flick's Barça:
"I think Barça's results are proving that. He's a coach who came to a new league, and I think Barça plays very attractive football, with lots of goals, and for a reason they are the top scoring team in the league and the leader."
The match against Atlético, an example to follow:
"I said exactly that about the Atlético de Madrid match, firstly because the rival we were facing, with the category they have, and because of the campaigns they have had for so many years now with Cholo Simeone, and they practically didn't shoot at goal and we created so many chances for them. What you want is to always have that from your team, in all the games, few chances at your own goal and try to create and hopefully convert as many chances as possible.
"We would all like to repeat it always, but football is with human beings, if not, Las Palmas would not have beaten Barcelona, who were leaders. Of course it is a demand that if at a certain moment one can give, maybe you don't give it to all the games, but you have to try to give it more often. And that is what we have done in these four years, fight to leave Betis as high as possible, they have been fairly average years, and in all the average years we have also suffered these moments, and this year we are going to overcome them too."
Barça's offside line:
"Well, I'm very glad he told me that, I hadn't realised that they probably played so far forward... I think everyone realises it, all the coaches, they all prepare it, then you have to do it, if they're ahead it's for a reason. I think it's very important to know who you're playing against, but then the performances on match day are what change, if not the theory part I don't think anyone could ever make a mistake because there are plenty of match videos, you can review them 200 times and then try to do it and the other team beats you. So don't worry, we've worked on it."