The former coach of Manchester City, Malaga, Real Madrid, Villarreal and West Ham's current manager Manuel Pellegrini remembers his difficult path to the top of football.

When you find yourself in a difficult life situation, then there are two ways out: let the problems ruin oneself or make them work in their favor.

This I learned at the very beginning of my career, when I was training the Universidad de Chile. I played for this club for 14 years, protecting his colors in almost 500 games, so that debuting there as a coach was for me a special moment.

But at the same time I risked. The club was in very poor financial condition and had many problems.

In the middle of the season, I made a mistake. I went to England for a month for coaching courses, and trusted my assistant. As a result, we flew to the second division. To preserve the propiska in the top flight, we did not have enough not only that one point, but one goal.

This is what I mean when I say that you either allow him to destroy himself, or use it in his favor. Become better thanks to him.

I believe that if you take responsibility and believe that you can correct this failure in the future, you grow as a person. But this does not mean that it will be easy. I started my career with heavy luggage. After that it was hard to prove that I still can have a successful international career.

However, I did not always want to be a coach. In truth, for most of my playing days, I thought that after completing a player's career, I would devote 100% of my life to building.

Even before the completion of the gaming career, I founded my own construction company, so it seemed to me that my path was a foregone conclusion.

What changed? I met Fernando Rieru. He coached me at Universidad de Chile and was very well known around the world - it was under his leadership that the Chilean team took third place at the 1962 World Championships.

For five years of our teamwork, he managed to convince me that this is my vocation, so in the end I decided to attend coaching courses.

Living alone is a test that you need to go through if you want to work in different countries.

My parents are not so happy. They considered it a waste of time - to abandon the prestigious career of an engineer and devote himself to football. But I always have one answer when someone questions my choice.

The best decision I've ever made in life is doing what I like.

I liked football more than engineering. This was a very risky decision, there is no doubt about it. But I accepted him without fear.

For some time I was engaged in both, and worked as a coach and continued the career of an engineer - but in 1994 I realized that I should devote myself exclusively to football. It was obvious that I would not achieve the desired success if I did not focus only on coaching.

I left my first coaching job in 1989, but left Chile only 10 years later to work in Ecuador. I felt that for me it would be a very useful experience, if in the end I want to work at an international level. But leaving Chile was a very difficult decision. My wife had a very good job, she occupied one of the senior engineering positions, and my three children were still studying. I could not risk all this for the sake of something that, in the end, might not work.

So I went to Ecuador alone. On the one hand, it helped me devote a lot of time to football. On the other hand, it was a great sacrifice for our family.

Living alone is a test that you need to go through if you want to work in different countries.

You alone, you do not know anyone. After the defeat, you return to an empty apartment. Into the darkness. And the next day you start all over again.

Few people knew my name, when I went there, I was not known at the international level. Even in Chile, I confess, I did quite an average job. But this challenge in Ecuador, where we managed to win the league with the team from Quito, is what really started my career.

I brought with me a completely European method of working with the ball in a tight space.

When I returned from Ecuador to Chile, I met President San Lorenzo, a club from Buenos Aires. He asked when my contract expires in Ecuador and invited me to head his club.

For them, then it was very difficult time. San Lorenzo had good players, but they were not paid a salary for two years. When I arrived, the club had a very difficult atmosphere. It was here that I first met Ruben (Cusillas, who became a long-time assistant to Pellegrini), who became a really important person for me. He played for a long time for San Lorenzo, so he helped me understand the whole situation in Argentina. Understand the scheme and players.

At the very beginning, I told the team: "If you do not get paid in such a situation, let's see if we can change the dynamics in the club if we achieve sporting fame".

In that season we gave out a win-win series of 11 matches, winning the championship with a record number of points and wins. And with a group of players who did not know me, but supported both the manager.

They saw that I believed in my own idea of ??football. And this idea was different from the one they are used to in Argentina. I brought with me a completely European method of working with the ball in a tight space. I applied it gradually, and little by little they began to like it.

The team reached a fantastic level of the game, so we won the first international trophy in the history of the club. But, I think, at the international level they started talking about me, when together with River Plate we won the championship and reached the finals of the Copa Sudericana.

After that, I was offered a luxury contract - financially - in Mexico.

But I examined it from all sides and decided to refuse. I knew that it would be very difficult for me, as a coach, to go from Mexico to Europe. So, despite the less favorable financial conditions - less than half of what I was offered in Mexico - I made a decision.

We were better than Arsenal in this confrontation. But in the second leg we did not realize a penalty in the last minute and it all ended. This is very painful.

I came to Villarreal. And I think it was a really good decision, because I was in an unusual club.

As far as I know, this is one of the best clubs in terms of organization: the president, who clearly represents the direction in which the club is moving, and is ready to allocate enough money for his growth. And the sports director, who almost always manages to convince players to join the club.

If I told the leadership that in the next five years we will take the second place in La Liga, every year we will play in European competition and reach the Champions League semi-final, they would bite me straight to the crazy house.

But together with the players we reached a new level and, gradually, achieved all this.

Personally, these five years have helped me understand the European football. From time to time, it's good.

The defeat of Arsenal in the semi-final of the 2006 Champions League was very painful.

We knocked out Inter. Took first place in our group. So the team was confident in themselves. In terms of our level of football and psychology, we were ready to play in the final. Especially in the final against Barcelona, ??which we beat 3: 1 six weeks before.

We were better than Arsenal in this confrontation. We had to win both in London and at home. But in the second leg we did not realize a penalty in the last minute and it all ended. As I said, it's very painful..

However, this happens in football. As well as when I flew from the top division at the beginning of my coaching career, now I had to learn from this experience and move on.

Throughout all these years, deep in my mind, one idea always lurked. I wanted to become a top coach in world football due to my own work, dedication and knowledge.

When the president decided to part with me, 70 percent of the fans of Real Madrid supported me and wanted me to stay.

So when I was called to Madrid Real Madrid, I was overjoyed.

After so many victims, I had the opportunity to work in one of the largest clubs in the world.

The chances that the Chilean coach will train Madrid Real Madrid, not even one to a hundred thousand.

It is a pity that I did not manage to stay there longer.

But for this my relations with the president should improve. We had significant differences in some technical and managerial issues. It is logical that the club always wins the leadership.