When Real Madrid and Manchester City meet in the Champions League semi-finals, where do their coaches rank among the best since 2000?

10. Antonio Conte
Every time Conte leads a team, success immediately follows. Admittedly, he often left the team miserable after leaving, which Tottenham fans can attest, but not many coaches can say they have won five titles in two leagues, restore glory to big clubs like Juventus, Inter and Chelsea after inheriting the mess from their predecessors.

A black spot against Conte is his European record. Conte’s Inter were defeated by Sevilla in the Europa League final 2020 and then failed to qualify for the group stage in the Champions League, fate also fell on his Juve side in the 2013-14 season. And Conte has never made it past the quarter-finals of Europe’s biggest tournament, which is a defeat for the teams he has managed.

9. Luis Enrique
An uncompromising, belligerent midfielder during his playing days, Luis Enrique followed in Guardiola’s footsteps as he led Barcelona, taking charge of the club’s reserve team, going on to lead the first team and then win the league. every title imaginable with them.

The idol of the Camp Nou faithful, he inherited an old team from Gerardo Martino, but still has a great squad to work with, including series winners Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Xavi Hernandez and Lionel Messi, plus newcomers Neymar and Luis Suarez.

Luis Enrique retained the La Liga title in his next season and won two more Copa del Rey before leading Spain to the semi-finals of Euro 2020 and the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup.

8. Vicente del Bosque
The Spaniard was only Real Madrid’s coach for three and a half seasons but won seven titles, including two Champions League and two La Liga titles. He was Spain coach for 8 years and won the World Cup as well as the European Championship. In a remarkably short period of time, he won every possible title.

But Del Bosque has never received the respect it deserves. The day after winning his second Champions League title in 2003, he received the news of his dismissal while walking through a corridor inside the Santiago Bernabeu.

Madrid president Florentino Perez at the time said that Del Bosque’s methods were too traditional and that the club were looking for someone more sophisticated, but it would take Madrid another 11 years before they won another Champions League. Maybe those traditional methods aren’t so bad.

7. Diego Simeone
Spanish football clubs are notoriously impatient with their coaches, but Diego Simeone spent more than 11 years with Atletico Madrid, turning Rojiblancos from a team in danger of relegation into a team. one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

But it’s not just about the title. The fiery Argentinian coach has completely changed the club, now playing in one of the best stadiums on the continent. In the ever-changing football landscape, when it is not uncommon for clubs to change coaches three times in a season, the adoring sound of Atletico fans chanting ‘Ole Ole Ole, Cholo Simeone’ is a constant. More than a football coach, he is the leader of a religion: Cholismo.

6. Jose Mourinho
The Portuguese has won many things, as he never tire of reminding people, but most significantly, he has elevated the status of managers from an official to a rock star. . And he was the Mick Jagger of the coaching world, mastering the stage of any club he went to.

Although Mourinho has not won any significant silverware since 2017, it is always in high demand and it is no surprise that he is tipped to be the next Paris Saint-Germain manager. Since he arrived at Chelsea in 2004 as a European champion and self-proclaimed ‘Special One’, no one in football has been able to take their eyes off him.

And although his peak of power has passed, his achievements are still outstanding: winning the Champions League with Porto and Inter, eight national championships in Portugal, England, Spain and Italy while leading. manage teams like Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Roma. Anyone with such a CV will think they are special too.

5. Zinedine Zidane

Zidane’s critics have dismissed his abilities by saying that he is always lucky. But luck can’t get you three Champions League titles in a row, two La Liga titles and the dedication of some of the best players in the world.

Zidane was indeed fortunate to manage Real Madrid when Cristiano Ronaldo was at his peak, but his predecessors Rafael Benitez, Manuel Pellegrini and Mourinho could not come close to his achievement. And with pressure from all the media, a demanding Santiago Bernabeu plus an autocratic president at Perez, Madrid is hardly an easy club to manage.

4. Jurgen Klopp

“I love heavy metal. I always want to hear it loud,” Jurgen Klopp said in 2013, and a decade later, the music is still shrill and Liverpool fans never want it to stop. .

The German coach is an energetic figure and has revived two sleeping giants, first Borussia Dortmund and then Liverpool, while transforming them into winning machines. Dortmund’s lightning-fast, high-pressing game has taken European football by storm, beating Bayern Munich twice to win the Bundesliga and reach the Champions League final.

3. Carlo Ancelotti

The Italian coach wrote a book titled “Silent Leadership”, and the title perfectly sums up his approach to management. Ancelotti rarely makes a fuss, demands respect from his colleagues or blames the referee when things go wrong.

Instead, Ancelotti lets his record speak, and it’s easy to see why. He is the only coach to have won titles in each of Europe’s top 5 leagues and no one in the history of the game has won as many European Cups as Carletto. In the first time leading Madrid, he was once considered “soft-handed”. His answer was perfect: “With this soft hand I have won three European Cups”. The number is now 4.

2. Sir Alex Ferguson

In 1993, Ferguson brought Manchester United their first league title in 26 years, and given the poor management of the club since his departure, it could be another 26 years before they win. next. The Scottish coach runs Old Trafford with an iron hand and he always plans for the future, working so hard that he never dares to take a day off.

Ferguson famously knocked Liverpool out of their place and brought United in instead. And in the end, he weathered challenges from Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City before retiring in 2013. But his real influence is being felt now, a decade later, when United are still would look rudderless without Sir’s leadership.

1. Pep Guardiola
The Catalan coach has taken football to the next level with every team he has coached. He won 10 league titles in 12 seasons, broke the records for total points in La Liga and the Premier League and won the Bundesliga in the fastest time ever.

Pep does not stop trying, never allows his players to rest on victory or complacency. And he is constantly innovating, coming up with new tactical maneuvers in every game, tailoring the team to the qualities of his squad. As an example, for most of his time at Man City, he used a formation without a striker.