Manuel Pellegrini fesses up to Rangers U-turn on one comment but moaning over 'missed chances' rumbles on

Pellegrini confesses they were taken surprise by Rangers despite previously insisting they weren't.

Manuel Pellegrini admits Betis are still reeling from a Rangers hammer blow which took them by surprise.

Pellegrini's side were widely expected to take care of Gers in Spain and qualify for the Europa League round of 16 as group winners but they were met by a dogged performance from the visitors who refused to lie down. Twice Rangers led and were pegged back, goals from Abdallah Sima and Cyriel Dessers cancelled out by Juan Miranda and Ayoze Perez, but Kemar Roofe struck late to seal a famous win.

After the game, Pellegrini moaned that his side didn't deserve to lose, feeling they'd had the better of the chances in Seville. And that's something he still stands by. But having previously said he wasn't surprised by Rangers who physically outfought them on their own patch, he now admits the setback was "unexpected." And he insists despite his side's shoddy defending, they still had enough chances to win the game.

Pellegrini said: "Regardless of what happened on Thursday, we have the objective of qualifying for Europe and we have three ways: the league, the Copa del Rey and the Conference.

"It was an unexpected setback at that moment playing after playing the best game of the season. Despite the defensive facilities that we granted we had chances to at least tie with the Rangers."

It's a slight departure from Pellegrini's comments directly after the game when he was asked if Rangers took them by surprise. " Surprised? No, Because I always say Rangers is a big team that is used to playing in the Champions League, play always in Europe," he said.

"In their league, every game they play they need to win. So we knew before the game that it was a very difficult team in attacking. But unfortunately for us all the chances we had to score more goals we couldn't do it. So for me, Rangers were not a surprise."