Fans have a lot to say about how their coaches should have handled their UEFA Champions League outing. This is the democratic nature of sport.
As fans of the game, we have a lot to say about how managers could have performed a lot better in their clashes. Instead of sharing our opinions outright, we will do a ranking instead.
This ranking is a result of discussions and observations from the individual games and represents the unbiased nature of our football coverage on this site.
Below are the rankings from worst to best managers from the 2023/24 UCL quarter-finals.
8. Diego Simeone
Diego Simeone ends his quarter-final campaign as our worst-rated manager after bowing out from the UEFA Champions League when all the odds were stacked in his favour. Nothing seems to be working for the Argentine manager since his blitz run of two finals in three years in the early 2010s.
Atlético de Madrid started their quarter-final tie well after being billed as the favourites to progress over Borussia Dortmund. It took the magnificence of Gregor Kobel in goal for BVB to keep them from running riot at the Civitas Metropolitano in the first leg.
Poor finishing from his team also hurt them, especially in the second leg where Dortmund played as a more cohesive unit to overcome the aggregate deficit.
7. Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta is ranked seventh in his rookie season as a Champions League manager for grossly underestimating the history behind Bayern Munich.
The German club have won the third-most trophies in the league and are the team with the second-most final appearances behind Real Madrid. Many believe that Arteta should have set up his team in a more defensive shape to tackle Der Rekordmeister and we could not agree more.
However, he showed clear signs of possessing the tactical nous that is needed for a competition of this calibre, which is why he ranks seventh, not eighth. We hope that he has learned his lessons and will be better prepared when he returns with his young guns in 2024/25.
6. Thomas Tuchel
Experienced though he is with winning the UEFA Champions League, Thomas Tuchel did not cut the figure of a manager with any idea of what he was doing.
With a core of multiple Champions League winners like Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller and a team of multiple title winners, the former Chelsea boss could not put together a performance that would blow the inexperienced Arsenal away.
Many pundits blame Arteta for the German grabbing the semi-final ticket, which shows that the general opinion towards the two-time Champions League finalist coach is not favourable.
Tuchel, who the Bayern fans will be happy to see the back of, ranks in sixth place on our list solely because he is in the semi-finals.
5. Xavi Hernandez
Although Xavi Hernandez is ranked fifth on our rankings, many can argue that he deserves to be higher in any ranking.
One of the reasons they might give is Barcelona’s perilous financial situation which has forced the FIFA World Cup-winning midfielder to make lemonade from bitter lemons and get the team to the quarter-finals. Another is that he is a young manager in the early stages of his coaching career.
However, how he managed the game following Ronaldo Araujo’s sending-off in the second leg of Barcelona’s quarter-final tie docked him points, keeping him at number five on our rankings.
4. Luis Enrique
The REMONTADA coach, Luis Enrique should be number one on this list going by the amazing sentimental win over Barcelona.
Enrique broke Parisiens' hearts as Barcelona coach in 2017 when he overturned a 4 - 0 deficit against Barcelona to win a knockout tie 6 - 5 on aggregate. Now, he has broken Culers’ hearts as Paris Saint-Germain boss to turn a 3 - 2 deficit into a 6 - 4 aggregate win to progress to the semis.
Why he ranks number four on our list – apart from the obvious fact that other managers did better – is that Xavi out-coached him across both legs until Araujo’s red card in the second game.
He was greatly helped by individual quality, especially that of Ousmane Dembélé.
3. Pep Guardiola
Last season's winning manager was exceptional in the tournament and in the quarter-finals against another equally brilliant manager. He could have won the tie too, but in the end, it all went down to who wanted it more.
This is the summary of how Manchester City were knocked out of the 2023/24 Champions League. There is almost no fault to be found in Pep Guardiola's coaching in the tie.
What he can do, however, is to inculcate defence into his possession-based philosophy.
Guardiola believes that the team with the ball holds all the cards and tries to keep it. However, many managers are finding him out with defensive tactics.
This loss must be his cue to become more flexible.
2. Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti ranks in second place solely because of how he got the semi-final ticket from Guardiola.
Not since 2011/12 has Madrid needed a penalty shootout to progress from a tie in the knockouts. However, the Italian veteran manager knew that knocking Guardiola's Man City out would be difficult without resorting to shootouts, especially after he was knocked out by the same team last season.
As he prepares for an iconic Champions League fixture, the European Clasico against Bayern Munich, he will have more solid tactics and possibly less of a headache with Tuchel.
Both Bayern vs Real Madrid tickets and Real Madrid tickets for the two legs of their semi-final clash are available on seatsnet.com.
1. Edin Terzic
Ranked in number one is the rookie, Edin Terzic, whose performances in the competition this season are worthy of a place on the next big awards podium, regardless of how Borussia Dortmund finished the season.
Ruled out of the quarter-final tie due to the inexperienced squad he manages as well as his inexperience, Terzic made sure to give Atléti a run for their money just like he did in the group stages where he finished in first place.
He is now preparing to face group opponents PSG once again in the semis. Both Dortmund vs PSG tickets for the first leg and PSG vs Dortmund tickets for the second leg of their semi-final tie are available on seatsnet.com.
