Guardiola leapfrogs Ferguson for second place in Champions League wins

Manchester City managed to win the second match of the Champions League group stage at Leipzig. Pep Guardiola could be happy mainly for the great substitutions in the form of Julian Álvarez and Jeremy Doku, who won the duel for the Citizens, but also through the fact that he leapfrogged Sir Alex Ferguson in the historical table of managers in the second place in the number of wins in the millionaire competition.

He started coaching at Barcelona, with whom he won the Champions League twice. The line-up around Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta was the perfect prototype of a winning team. For the duration of the Spanish strategist’s tenure, the Catalan club was a terror and a terror. With its tiki-taka style, it did not lend the opponent the ball in most matches.

In the spring of 2012, after being eliminated in the semi-finals by Bayern Munich, Guardiola ended his fairy tale in Barcelona. He moved to the very team that eliminated his beloved club, the aforementioned Bayern Munich. He added no triumphs in Munich, thrived as expected in the Bundesliga, but it wasn’t the same in the Champions League.

When he left for Manchester City in 2016, his wish was of course the Champions League. In the 2020/21 season he came close to it, only being outclassed by London Chelsea in the final. This year, however, he has lived to see it, with cannonballer Erling Haland helping him dominate the Champions League. After twelve long years, Guardiola has arrived.

Aside from City continuing their winning streak in the group stage, Guardiola is closing in on another rewrite in history. In the historical table of the number of wins by managers in the Champions League, he has already reached the second position with one hundred and three wins. He is six wins behind the first position, which is defended by Carlo Ancelotti.

Of course, as long as the Italian is on the Real Madrid bench, Guardiola will have a hard time, but above all age plays in his favour, he is 12 years younger.

What does the historical table of managers in the number of Champions League wins look like?

5. José Mourinho – 77 wins

It seems an eternity since this coaching icon has been here. He won the Champions League with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010, with whom he even won the treble. Now he’s bossing the bench at AS Roma, but the Champions League is a long way off and that’s one of the reasons why he’s only fifth in this historic table.

4. Arsene Wenger – 82 wins

The Arsenal coaching legend has 82 wins to his name and it’s safe to say that he won’t be adding any more. The commas in the stats were mainly credited to the aforementioned Arsenal, with whom he finished just outside the gates of infinite glory in the 2005/06 season in the final against Barcelona. Otherwise, he also scored wins as a manager on the bench of Monaco, which was his second team after AS Nancy.

3. Sir Alex Ferguson – 102 wins

He was on the bench of Manchester United for 26 long years. He conquered the Champions League twice, losing twice in the final, just to Pep Guardiola and his Barcelona. After his retirement as a coach, Manchester United is not what it used to be.

2. Pep Guardiola – 103 wins

1. Carlo Ancelotti – 109 wins

The Italian strategist changed several big clubs in his coaching career. AC Milan, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain are certainly among the most famous. In total, he managed to win the Champions League four times, twice with AC Milan, twice with Real Madrid.

Above all, stops at Everton in England or Napoli took away his chances of winning the millionaire competition even more. If he fails to do well in the Champions League this season, Guardiola may have already surpassed him, but in the long run, we can say that the Spaniard will definitely surpass him.

Source: Fabrizio Romano, UEFA