Unai Emery has added its name to an elite group managers to have taken the lead over four or more teams in a Champions League Knock -Out match.
Emery led Aston Villa to the round of 16 in their first Champions League season ever after a top-night finish in the competition phase of the competition. Standing between them and a quarter -final place is Club Brugge, which they have already defeated this season.
The Spanish manager previously took the lead for Valencia, Villarreal and Paris Saint-Germain in the competition. However, he never led Arsenal in a Champions League match of any kind, while his Sevilla side fell in the group stage in 2015-16 before he won the Europa League of that season.
The highlight of Emery's earlier Champions League campaigns came in the 2021-22 season, when his Villarreal team made it to the semi-final. He also supervised a memorable 4-0 legs in the first pipes on Barcelona with PSG in 2016, only for the Catalan club to set up a remarkable comeback in second place.
England -Manager Thomas Tuchel is the other manager with four campaigns with different clubs to his name. Tuchel won the competition with Chelsea in 2021, after he reached the final with Paris Saint-Germain the previous year, and also took the lead over Bundesliga-sides Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in the Knock-Rondes.
Another former Chelsea boss has done it five times. Claudio Ranieri led the blues to the semi-final in 2003-04 and also took the lead on knockout matches with Leicester City, Juventus, Roma and Inter Milan.
There are two managers to lead six different teams in Champions League Knock races, and – of course enough – both have also managed Chelsea. The top two are Jose Mourinho (Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur) and Carlo Ancelotti (Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern München).
“We feel strong and consistent at home, but we don't feel consistent,” Emery said for the first stage in Belgium. “In this competition we won at Young Boys, we lost at Bruges, we won at Leipzig and lost at Monaco – two and two. It is enough balance for the competition.
“We have to be in the top eight, but tomorrow we have to take something better than we do. We must be stronger in our consistency than before here in Bruges and also in Monaco. “
Only one goal was sufficient to arrange the competition phase between the parties. It came from the penalty spot, with Hans Vanaken -nets after a bizarre handball from Villa -defender Tyrone Mings.
Comments