Juan Carlos Garrido has revealed his contentment with early work at Real Betis and that they have begun life under him with a win.
Garrido, who came in last Monday as replacement for Pepe Mel, saw his new charges come away from Lleida with a 2-1 advantage in the first leg of their Copa del Rey tie.
Betis were handed an early advantage when Lleida saw goalkeeper Pau Torres dismissed in conceding a penalty, although Jorge Molina missed the resultant spot-kick.
However, Joan Verdu’s delicate Panenka effort midway through the first half from a second penalty for Los Beticos, after a handball, gave them the lead.
Jorge Molina then doubled this just before half-time, before Pere Milla pulled one back for the hosts.
“We are generally happy with the win,” Coach Garrido reflected afterwards.
“When you win a game, it is usually because you have done things right. I can see the willingness of the team and even in just these few days of working with them there are ideas to our play taking shape.
“The team needed a good result to gain confidence. This result is not decisive, but a good step forward.
“All the comments right now are positive and besides winning we have managed to score two goals away from home.”
Garrido was asked of Verdu’s penalty, which very nearly didn’t come off.
“Penalties are taken to be scored. The player has tried to do something to fool the goalkeeper. The previous penalty was saved and that was put to one side, so he thought about it. Joan is to be congratulated.
“The game? Lleida are a very aggressive team, sometimes near the limit.
“They have tried to take advantage of set-pieces and rapid transitions. We have seen the Lleida that we knew.”
