Pellegrini matches the league start of Betis' 1935 title-winning side

Real Betis have equalled the best start to a top-flight season in their history. The 5-2 victory over Osasuna at La Cartuja leaves Manuel Pellegrini's side with 19 points from a possible 24, matching the record set by Patrick O'Connell's team in the 1934-35 campaign, the season in which the club won its only league title. Almost 92 years have passed since Betis last produced such a strong opening to a championship season.

• Betis have taken 19 points from eight games: six wins, one draw and one defeat.
• The only equally strong start belongs to O'Connell's 1934-35 title-winning side.
• Pellegrini is the coach with the most matches and wins in club history.
• Betis are unbeaten in 15 LaLiga home games at La Cartuja.
• After hosting Porto in the Champions League, Betis face Barcelona in LaLiga.

How Betis started their 1935 title-winning season

Patrick O'Connell's Betis opened that historic campaign with five straight wins. They began with a 0-1 victory over Madrid at Chamartín before defeating Barcelona (2-1), Arenas de Guecho (0-3), Valencia (3-0) and Donostia (1-0). Their first defeat came in the sixth round against Athletic de Madrid, now Atlético de Madrid, at the Metropolitano by 4-2. The team responded by beating Oviedo (2-1) and then drawing away to Español (1-1).

Under the two-points-for-a-win system in place at the time, that side collected 13 points from a possible 16, which equates to the 19 from 24 that Pellegrini's Betis now have. The goalscoring numbers were also similar, though slightly better for the 1934-35 team: O'Connell's side scored 15 and conceded seven, compared with 14 scored and nine conceded this season, leaving a goal difference of +8 against the current +5.

Betis' best starts in the three-point era

Since wins began to be worth three points in the 1995-96 season, the closest precedent dated back to 1996-97, when Lorenzo Serra Ferrer's Betis collected 17 points from their opening eight matches with five wins, two draws and one defeat. That team finished third in LaLiga and reached the Copa del Rey final.

The 1963-64 campaign also deserves a mention. Under Domingo Balmanya, Betis went unbeaten through their first eight games with five wins and three draws, a record that would be worth 18 points under the current system.

Pellegrini's record-breaking place in Betis history

The comparison with O'Connell is particularly meaningful given the place both hold in club history. The Irishman was the architect of Betis' only league title, while Pellegrini returned the club to a winning path with the 2022 Copa del Rey, lifted at La Cartuja against Valencia. They are two of only four coaches to have won an official trophy with the first team, alongside Rafael Iriondo, Copa winner in 1977, and Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, who repeated that success in 2005.

The Chilean continues to extend numbers that make him the longest-serving coach in Verdiblanco history. Since arriving in the summer of 2020, Pellegrini has spent seven consecutive seasons in charge and has overseen 320 official matches, with 152 wins, 87 draws and 81 defeats, plus 507 goals scored and 381 conceded. He is the coach with the most games and most wins in Betis history, leading a period of unprecedented sporting stability.

European success and a demanding fixture list

Pellegrini has guided Betis into European competition in each of his six full seasons at the club, recording six consecutive qualifications that stand as another club record. This campaign he has gone one step further, joining Serra Ferrer as one of only two coaches to lead Betis into the Champions League. Serra Ferrer achieved it in 2005 and Pellegrini has repeated the feat 21 years later.

There is also another unprecedented milestone: Pellegrini is the only coach to have taken Betis to a continental final. He did so in May 2025, when the team reached the Conference League decider against Chelsea in Wroclaw. That European run raised the club's competitive ceiling despite the defeat to the London side, and it now continues with a return to Europe's top competition.

La Cartuja fortress under threat from Barcelona

The start made by Pellegrini's Betis is all the more remarkable given the demands of their fixture list. Unlike O'Connell's side, who only played domestic football at that stage of the season, the current team are balancing LaLiga with Champions League football, and doing so with positive results after opening the league phase with an important 2-3 away win over Lille.

The schedule offers no respite. After hosting Porto at La Cartuja on Wednesday in the second round of Champions League fixtures, Betis face another huge test against Barcelona on Saturday. The Catalan side were the last team to beat Betis at home in LaLiga, winning 3-5 at La Cartuja on 6 December 2025. Since then, Pellegrini's team have gone 15 league games unbeaten at home, with ten wins and five draws, equalling their best home invincibility run of the current century, set in 2004-05.

Betis have also won seven consecutive matches in front of their own fans, who turned out in force with more than 65,000 spectators on the latest matchday. Flick's Barcelona will now test a run that has stretched over more than ten months and has turned La Cartuja into one of Betis' strongest assets in their push to stay near the top of the table.

Frequently asked questions about Betis' historic start