Legendary Managers To Never Win A UEFA Champions League As A Manager.

 The UEFA Champions League is coming to a end and it is France Vs Germany, that is Paris Vs Bayern.  Both teams are looking so strong but it is the side from Germany which has the upper hand.

 

  It is not the concept that we are upto.  What we are going to discuss is about the managers.  Some managers like Zidane and Ancelotti have won multiple UEFA Champions League Titles but some good managers never get the chance to win a Champions League.  That is the list we are preparing,  here is a list of some managers who have never won a UEFA Champions League.

1.  MARCELO BIELSA:

                           Bielsa is often termed as the best coach who always loses.   Marcelo Bielsa has managed numerous clubs and has had a lot of success but he never won a league title with any of the clubs he has managed.  Bielsa has had some outings in the Europa League with Athletic Bilbao but Bilbao finished as runners up in the Europa league of the 2011-12 season.  Bielsa's coaching philosophy and his tactics are the ones which are praised.  He is a master tactician and a noble man.

                          Bielsa even sacrificed his team, Leeds United's promotion in the 2018-19 season, only because his team had scored a goal when an opposition player was on the ground in pain.  He ordered his players to let Aston Villa score and the game was drawn and Villa went on to gain promotion.  But Bielsa did not let his head down, he and his team tried hard and now have won Leeds United a promotion after 16 years.

The Day That Every Leeds United Fan Dreamt Of..

  But will Bielsa be able to take his team to Europe and may be win it for the first time?  Only time will tell the answer to this question.

2.  DIEGO SIMEONE:

                              Cholo or rather Diego Simeone is an Argentine manager who is currently the manager of Club Atletico De Madrid.  Both Simeone and Atleti have worked hard but missed out on the big prize every time.  Simeone has won multiple Europa League Titles with Atletico but he has never won a Champions League.  Simeone's coaching philosophy and winning La Liga without any superstars was praised a lot.  He led Atletico to one of their Rare La Liga Title in the 2013-14 season.

The Best Moment In Atletico's History..

 

 That Win also meant a lot to spanish football, because that was the first time since 2002-03 season where the La Liga was won by a team other than Real Madrid and Barcelona.

                              Simeone had a team comprising of hugely young and energetic players along side some underrated players like David Villa, Joao Miranda, Diego Godin, Gabi.  But Simeone has never had luck in a UEFA Champions League.  His Dream Side even went into the Champions League Final in Lisbon.  From Leading 1-0 until the 90th minute, Atleti failed to close out the game and Real took it to extra time to humiliate Atletico 4-1.

The Defensive Error Which Allowed The Ramos Header, That Proved Too Costly!

 

 Simeone was distraught but did not lose hope.  After Some more fruitless years where Atletico kept on finishing in the top four Simeone was shocked when his team was pushed down to Sixth Place at a point during this 2019-20 season.  But to his help came the Corona Virus which helped his team to recapture a bit of form.

                               Atletico even played some superb football in this years La Liga after the restart to make a come back from 6th place to 3rd place.  But they failed in Champions League by losing to RB Leipzig.  But Simeone definitely will win the Champions League sometime in the future.

3.  ARSENE WENGER:

                                   It's Arsene from France.  Wenger is arguably the best ever Premier League Manager in it's history.  Everybody knows Wenger as the manager of Arsenal the club where he won Multiple Premier League titles, FA Cups, Community Shields, and a lot. Also Many never remember that Wenger had a 7 year stint with Monaco.

Recognize The Man With The Glasses?  It Is Mr. Arsene Wenger During the 90's When He was Managing Monaco.

 

  He was unable to win the Champions League there and so was he with Arsenal.  In all those 22 years Wenger could not win even a single Champions League title.

                                  He led his team to a Final only to be beaten by Barcelona.  Wenger will remain to be a legendary figure in Managing and also in Arsenal's history but there is a black mark in his long standing legacy, poor performance in the champions League.  Anyways Arsene Wenger is really one of the legendary figures in Football history

4.  ANTONIO CONTE:

                                    Antonio Conte's History and his achievements have been already talked about in our other post on 7 Legendary Players Who Turned Into Legendary Managers.  If you want to know about that please visit the given link above.  So let us come back to Conte.  Conte as you know captained Juventus to a Champions League Triumph.  But as he turned as a manager, Conte has managed numerous clubs, but some of his memorable stints were as the manager of Juventus.  Antonio Conte led Juventus to SERIE A titles but he just could not win the Champions League with them.  He was infact worse in Champions League football with Juventus.

                                   He reached a Europa League Semi-finals and a Champions League Quarter Finals with Juventus during his stint as Juventus Manager for 3 years.  Then Massimiliano Allegri took over and helped Juventus Reach the Finals of the Champions League in 2015.  One heartbreaking thing is that Conte has struggled when it came to the Champions League.  He could not gain success with Chelsea, Juventus and even Inter Milan now.  Conte was very close to win his first European title as he watched his club perish against Sevilla in the Europa League final.

A Dissappointed Conte Walking Away With Runners Up Medal..

 

  This is Conte's best ever finish in UEFA Club tournaments as a manager.  But Conte looks forward to the next year's Champions League.  So all we can do is wish him best of luck.

5.  DIDIER DESCHAMPS:

                                        Didier Deschamps, is a record holder in the history of football.  He is the only Captain to win the UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Champions Cup.  Deschamps is a really great manager, as he became only the second footballer to win the World Cup both as a player and as a manager.  But Why is he in this list?  Because he has not won a Champions League as a manager.  Didier Deschamps has managed Juventus, Monaco, and Marsielle

Deschamps During His Time At Olympique De Marsielle.

 

but has never got the chance to lift the coveted trophy as a manager.  And I think he would never lift it.  Because he looks very comfortable as the manager of France.  A Job that he wishes to do. 

6.  KENNY DALGLISH:

                                        Kenny Dalglish is also not short of records.  He is the only Player-Manager in the history of the English Football to lift the English League Title when he did so in his last season as a player in 1990.

One Of The Most Unlikely Player Managers Sitting Alongside The English League Title.

 

 He played very fewer matches but he had his contribution.  The Scottish Manager is also the longest serving player manager in English Football History and in Liverpool's History.  Dalglish Resigned as Liverpool Manager 1991, but went on to manage only English and Scottish Clubs.

                                        He was not a very successful manager, and not the same manager as he used to be when he was managing Liverpool.  He Returned to Liverpool as a manager in 2011-12 season after a 11 year gap from Management.  However he was sacked at the end of the season and now at 69 years of age, Kenny is the Non-executive director at Liverpool since 2013.  He lived as a Red and will die as a Red.  All I do is salute Sir Dalglish for his contributions to Liverpool.

7.  MASSIMILIANO ALLEGRI:

                                            Massimiliano allegri is one of my personal favourites.  Allegri's style of managing and his tactical intelligence are lauded by most of the football pundits around the world.  Allegri's calm attitude is also one of his best features.  He won the Scudetto in his first season with Milan, which stands out to be the last ever time that Milan won the Scudetto. 

Massi Never Thought The Rossoneri Would Not Lift The Scudetto For The Next 9 Years.

 

 He moved on to Rivals Juventus in 2014-15 and won the Scudetto and kept on winning until 2019 when he was sacked due to poor results in the Champions League.  Massimiliano Allegri led Juventus to a Champions League final in 2015 but he lost it to Barcelona.

                                             Allegri  did not put his head down as he led them to another Champions League final in 2017 but only to give it away to Zidane's Real Madrid.

The Day When Cristiano Stole The Show At Cardiff.

  

He once again kept on winning the Scudetto but he just could not win the Champions League for the Side from Turin.  That is why he was sacked at the end of the 2018-19 season and was replaced by Europa League Winning manager Maurizio Sarri.  Who was sacked Right after Juventus were beaten by Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League Round Of 16 stage in 2019-2020 season.  Allegri said that he would retire from Managing when he ages 55 and he hopes to manage Italy in his last years.  Allegri has not yet managed a club since he was sacked in 2019 and I also think that he would never manage a club again.