Man City Looks for Rare Champions League Repeat After Finally Winning it for the First Time 

18 September 2023, United Kingdom, Manchester: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (R) speaks to Erling Haaland during a training session at City Football Academy ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group G soccer match against Red Star Belgrade. (dpa)
18 September 2023, United Kingdom, Manchester: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (R) speaks to Erling Haaland during a training session at City Football Academy ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group G soccer match against Red Star Belgrade. (dpa)
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Man City Looks for Rare Champions League Repeat After Finally Winning it for the First Time 

18 September 2023, United Kingdom, Manchester: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (R) speaks to Erling Haaland during a training session at City Football Academy ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group G soccer match against Red Star Belgrade. (dpa)
18 September 2023, United Kingdom, Manchester: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (R) speaks to Erling Haaland during a training session at City Football Academy ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group G soccer match against Red Star Belgrade. (dpa)

History is not on Pep Guardiola’s side as he tries to lead Manchester City to back-to-back Champions League titles this season.

Real Madrid is the only club to retain the trophy in the modern era by winning it three times in a row from 2016-18.

“We’re incredibly happy to defend this crown, but this competition doesn’t allow you mistakes,” Guardiola said ahead of City’s opening Group G game against Red Star Belgrade. “The competition gives us a new challenge so (we’ll) at least try.”

The European Cup was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992 and no team had successfully defended the trophy until a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Madrid in 2017. The Spanish giant went on to complete a three-peat the following year.

Madrid won the first five editions of the trophy, from 1956-60, when the competition was in its former guise as a straight knockout tournament. The European Cup was also only open to the champions of Europe’s leagues, as well as the current holder of the trophy.

Teams would frequently win the trophy in successive seasons during that period, with Ajax and Bayern Munich each crowned champions of Europe three years in a row during the 1970s.

While the Champions League, with its massive broadcast revenue, has been cited as a reason for a widening of the gap between European soccer’s wealthiest teams and their smaller rivals, it has established itself as one of the most fiercely contested competitions in the sport.

That has been a consequence of the increased number of top teams from the biggest leagues that are permitted entry, with four from England, Spain, Italy and Germany all qualifying.

Those countries have dominated the Champions League era and between them have won all but three editions of the competition since 1993. It could be argued, however, that it is a measure of the competitiveness of European soccer’s elite club tournament that only one team has successfully defended the trophy.

“I was incredibly proud at Barcelona to win two in (three) years but we didn’t win it in a row,” Guardiola said. “If we aren’t able to win it, like the previous six seasons, then (we’ll have to) qualify for next year and try again.”

Guardiola finally lifted the trophy for a third time in June after City’s 1-0 win against Inter Milan in Istanbul. He had previously won it with Lionel Messi and Barcelona in 2009 and 2011.

It was City’s first European Cup and completed a treble of trophies last season. After June’s final, Guardiola set his team the challenge of becoming multiple winners like Europe’s greatest clubs.

Madrid has won it a record 14 times, including five of the last 10 editions.

On Monday, City’s manager reiterated the importance of repeating last season’s success.

“I’d like to say that for our club to win the Champions League is incredible,” he said. “But in perspective for the Champions League, how many teams have won the Champions League once?

“A lot have won two, three, four, five. In perspective, we did nothing special. Just one.”

City hosts Belgrade at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

While it is expected to win that match, the competition will be fierce again this year with Bayern Munich having signed England striker Harry Kane and Barcelona looking like a bigger threat after winning the Spanish league last season.

Madrid is regularly a challenger and has added England midfielder Jude Bellingham to its ranks.

Guardiola’s success at City, however, has been born out of a seemingly insatiable appetite for trophies.

“The hunger is still definitely in the changing room and I hope the manager still wants to win more,” said City defender Kyle Walker.

“You can see what he is like in games and training. He doesn’t settle for second and we should follow in his footsteps because he has managed some great teams that have won fantastic things. What we have done is in the past... we have won the Premier League and Champions League, but to go again is what separates the good teams from the great teams.”



Brazil Signs Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti 1 Year Ahead of 2026 World Cup

Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Brazil Signs Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti 1 Year Ahead of 2026 World Cup

Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will leave the Spanish club and take over as coach of Brazil’s national team, the Brazilian soccer federation said Monday.

The 65-year-old Ancelotti, who will be Brazil's first full-time foreign coach in a century, is still under contract with Madrid. The last round of the Spanish league will be on May 25 and the CBF said in a statement that he will officially take over Brazil the following day.

“Bringing Carlo Ancelotti to coach Brazil is more than a strategic movement. It is a statement to the world that we are determined to recover the top of the podium,” CBF President Ednaldo Rodrigues said in a statement. “He is the greatest coach in history and, now, he will be with the greatest national team on the planet. Together, we will write new glorious chapters of Brazilian soccer.”

Rodrigues said Ancelotti will take charge of Brazil’s next two fixtures in South American World Cup qualifying, with his debut at Ecuador on June 5th and five days later in front of home fans against Paraguay in Sao Paulo.

Ancelotti's contract with Madrid ends next year but is expected to be terminated early.

He will replace Dorival Júnior, who held the job for 14 months and was fired in March after a 4-1 defeat at Argentina. Brazil lags in 4th position in World Cup qualifying after 14 matches and has its 33-year-old star Neymar still in difficulties to return to top form after an ACL injury in 2023. The top six teams will secure direct spots in next year’s tournament.

Ancelotti leaves Madrid after a frustrating season in which the team did not defend its European title and saw rival Barcelona win the Copa del Rey and get close to securing the league title after a 4-3 victory over Madrid on Sunday.

The Italian coach and Real Madrid are yet to comment on CBF's announcement.

BRAZIL'S WAIT

Ancelotti's signing ends a turbulent time on Brazil’s bench since Tite left after the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals elimination against Croatia. Under-20 coach Ramon Menezes and Fluminense coach Fernando Diniz took charge for several matches as Rodriguez sought Ancelotti to become coach.

Menezes and Diniz both fared poorly, and Ancelotti extended his deal with Madrid during that span. Dorival Júnior was then chosen in 2024 to take the team to the World Cup, but he was also fired after the same lack of success and unimpressive performances.

Al-Hilal coach Jorge Jesus, a 70-year-old Portuguese who won several titles with Brazil’s Flamengo in 2019, was the favorite to take the Brazil job until Madrid was knocked out of the Champions League by Arsenal earlier in April.

Brazil will be Ancelotti’s first international experience as full-time coach. He was an assistant to Arrigo Sacchi in the 1994 World Cup as Italy lost to Brazil in the final on penalties.

That ended a 24-year World Cup title drought for Brazil, the same time frame it will face next year in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Ancelotti, who won Serie A titles as a player with Roma and AC Milan plus two European titles with the latter as a creative midfielder, started his full-time coaching career in 1995 at Italy's Reggiana.

He's also coached Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Napoli and Everton, winning titles in Italy, England, Spain, France and Germany.

He twice won the Champions League with Milan 2003 and 2007, and added three more titles with Real Madrid in 2014, 2022 and last year.

Ancelotti will be only the second foreign coach to take Brazil into an international tournament.

The first was Uruguayan Ramón Platero, who coached Brazil in the 1925 South American championship, the predecessor of the current Copa America. He was on the job for 19 days and four matches of a round-robin competition with Paraguay and Argentina, with two wins, one loss and one draw in the final with Argentina, who lifted the title.

Portuguese coach Jorge Gomes de Lima, known as Joreca, shared Brazil’s coach position with local Flavio Costa in two friendly victories over Uruguay in 1944.

And in 1965 Argentine coach Filpo Nuñez coached Brazil for one day. Nuñez was Palmeiras’ coach, and Brazil’s soccer body chose the Sao Paulo-based club to play with national team shirts in a friendly against Uruguay in the opening of the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte. The hosts won 3-0.

MADRID'S FUTURE

The announcement of Ancelotti’s departure came a day after Madrid lost its fourth straight match to Barcelona this season, falling seven points behind the Catalan rival with three rounds remaining.

Former player Xabi Alonso is widely expected to take over the club’s helm after he confirmed his departure from Bayer Leverkusen.

Alonso led Leverkusen to an unprecedented German league and cup double last year in his first full season after taking over the team when it was in the Bundesliga’s relegation zone the season before. He starred as a player as Madrid won a Spanish league title in 2012 and the 2014 Champions League before leaving for three Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich.

Madrid still has to play in the upcoming Club World Cup beginning next month.