Guardiola-Ancelotti, the other awaited Champions League final is played on the substitutes’ bench

In fact, no coach has won more Champions League That Charles Ancelotti. Probably no manager has had a greater impact on the development of modern football than Pep Guardiola. The Italian and the Spaniard will be protagonists this Tuesday of a duel between the kings of the reserve benches when their teams, real Madrid AND Manchester Cityopen the semifinal series for Orejona, where they meet for the second consecutive season.

Real Madrid are the defenders of a title won on May 28 in Paris against Liverpool. A 1-0 which made Ancelotti the most successful manager in the top European club competition – with four – and which came after beating City in their third consecutive comeback from direct crosses, and most unlikely of all.

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Is that in the first leg the white team survived a 2-0 draw in 11 minutes by the English team. They went down 3-1 and 4-2, but finished with a 4-3 which gave hope to the madridistas for the return, trusting in the part of their Santiago Bernabéu stadium.

However, for 90 minutes it was a mirage. A reminder of what has been experienced, without anything else. Even just before the 90th minute, at 0-1, there were Juventus fans returning home, while silence reigned in the Madrid stadium. Until Rodrygo showed up.

Double over a minute to force an extension where Karim Benzema, in 95, was charged, on a penalty, to overturn the series and leave Guardiola with a face of disbelief and helplessness on his bench. Reflection of what Mauricio Pochettino had felt before at PSG and Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea, but it looked like he wasn’t going to survive.

A recent bad memory in the ‘Champions’ against Real Madrid which adds to the previous one, when the Spanish coach managed Bayern Munich.

In 2014, both coaches met in the semifinals. Benzema’s 1-0 win at the Bernabéu left everything open for a round in which, as Guardiola acknowledged in the book ‘Herr Pep’, he made his big mistake.

“The 0-4 draw against Real Madrid in the ‘Champions’ is my worst coaching mistake”he assured regarding a meeting in which, according to his words, he decided to let himself be guided by the impetus of external agents and not by his own ideas.

And is that the Champions League is ‘Carletto’ territory in direct clashes, with full victories in two face-offs in the semifinals, even if in overall duels he loses.

Guardiola has six victories, against Ancelotti’s three. Yes, Pep’s five, in addition to last season’s ‘Champions’ first leg, were when the Italian headed for a Everton with lower goals and ambitions than City in the Premier League.

Nine direct duels in which, curiously, there was no draw between them. With 21 goals for Guardiola and 14 for Ancelotti’s teams.

A high duel

The duel in the banks will be high. With a Carlo Ancelotti who collected four trophies (2003 and 2007 with Milan; 2014 and 2022 with Real Madrid), more than any other coach after beating the Englishman Bob Paisley in Paris (1977, 1978 and 1981, with Liverpool) and the French Zinedine Zidane (2016, 2017 and 2018, with Real Madrid), the only one to win the ‘Champions’, with the current format, consecutively.

La Orejona, within Guardiola’s extensive record with ten of the 13 championships he has played, emerging victorious, he resists.

Pep hasn’t won the Champions League since 2011his second, after the one in 2009, both with the Barcelona of Spain. Since then he has only reached the final once, that in 2021 against Chelsea (0-1), his first defeat in an international definition in his coaching career.

However, the Spanish coach is the one who has led his teams to the semi-finals several times: 10. From 2008 to 2012 with Barcelona, ​​​​from 2013 to 2016 with Bayer Monaco and from 2020 to 2023 with Manchester City.

Behind in this historical ranking appear, in fact, Ancelotti, with nine, and the Portuguese José Mourinho with eight.

All duels from a rich history

Champions League semi-finals 2013-14: Real Madrid 1-0 Bayern Munich (first leg); Charles Ancelotti

Champions League semi-finals 2013-14: Bayern Munich 0-4 Real Madrid (second leg); Charles Ancelotti

Premier League 2019-20: Everton 1-3 Manchester City; Pep Guardiola

Premier League 2019-20: Manchester City 2-1 Everton; Pep Guardiola

Premier League 2020-21: Everton 1-3 Manchester City; Pep Guardiola

FA Cup 2020-2021 Everton – Manchester City (quarters) 0-2; Pep Guardiola

Premier League 2020-21: Manchester City 5-0 Everton; Pep Guardiola

Champions League semi-finals 2021-22: Manchester City 4-3 Real Madrid (first leg); Pep Guardiola

Champions League semi-finals: Real Madrid – Manchester City (second leg) 3-1; Charles Ancelotti