Chadi Riad: “I was right to go to Betis”

Chad Riyadh It has been one of the great revelations of the season in the First Division. The Moroccan centre-back arrived last summer on loan with an option to buy from FC Barcelona in Real Betis and in the green and white club he performs at a very high level, to the point that, after debuting with a defeat on September 16, precisely against FC Barcelona in Montjuic (5-0), he has not lost a single one of the fourteen matches in the League were played with Betis, forming a tandem with Pezzellawhere the green and white team added five wins and nine draws and conceded only nine goals.

“From German I learned the concepts of the game; I learned when to release the ball, when to play the ball, because I came from Barça, I came from La Masía… you know that’s where they always play the ball and I learned those things from him. Don’t complicate things and have character: it doesn’t matter who is next to you, you have to bring out your personality, you don’t care if they are ten years older than you, you have to point and say ” Look, here it’s me.” He taught me all that, and it really helped me a lot. It became a reference for me because he helped me take my first steps at a professional level, in the First Division. I am very grateful to him,” commented Chadi Riad in an extensive interview with Besoccer about his partner Pezzella, with whom he forms a successful tandem.

Chadi Riad explained how he signed for Real Betis, at the end of the market in August: “I am with my agent, with Bruno, and I am planning to go to other teams in Italy, in Serie B.… They are good teams, but not at the quality and level of Betis. When we got that offer, I said yes without thinking, even though I was the fourth center back, the fifth center back… I always had that hope and, at the end of the day, I would have a few minutes and I had to take advantage of it. I think, from my point of view, that I used them a lot and I got a certain name here. I learned a lot from my colleagues. Finally, I got the experience I lacked, because I am from the Primera RFEF and I am very happy. The truth is that I was absolutely right to come here to Betis.”

Pellegrini, for the first time, hardly considered it and he said, after the departure of Luiz Felipe, that Betis only had two centre-backs in the squad, Pezzella and Bartra, who were soon injured: “My relationship with the coach is very, very, very good, what’s happening is that I understand you completely. After all, I’m from Barça B, in the Primera RFEF, I have a reserve team number, and in the end he’s an old school coach. For him, I’m a reserve team player, and I completely understand it. As I said at the beginning, he came as the fourth or fifth center back. Well, nothing, it’s simply working every day, showing the coach that I have the level to be. In the end things turned out the way we all wanted.

Real Betis has a purchase option for Chadi Riad, which will be effective at the end of the season, although FC Barcelona retains another purchase option, which it can also exercise at a later time, so his future is unclear : “I am focused on the present, because if you put your mind on other things, you will lose concentration and things will go wrong. My mind is on every day. Betis is my team now. I will give 100% for this team and will continue. Then, if other things come up, we have to decide. Right now, I’m focused on the present.”

And the current one, at the moment, is Real Betis, so it doesn’t pay much attention to what’s going on with FC Barcelona. “I only have a leg in my mind. Now Betis is my team and that’s it. If Barça will come later, I don’t know. It will come, or it won’t. Right now I’m in the present at Betis,” said Chadi Riad, whose unbeaten streak in Betis’ defense will have a litmus test this Sunday when they visit the Metropolitano to face Atlético de Madrid.