Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and the 25 best managers of the 21st century so far - ranked

Ranieri has had 17 coaching jobs in the 21st century, and at 74 years of age is still in demand, having just returned to Roma. But his achievements at one club tower above all the rest.

Ranieri was an unpopular choice to take over at Leicester City in 2015 and his side were tipped for relegation. But in a story that still feels fantastical almost a decade on, Ranieri guided the Foxes to the Premier League title. Leicester had the fourth-lowest wage bill in the entire league and, at the time, no star names. At the start of the campaign, the odds of them winning the title were 5000/1, as there were no indications they could be title contenders: lead striker Jamie Vardy had spent most of his career in non-league, no one had heard of central midfield signing N'Golo Kante and the two centre-backs, Robert Huth and Wes Morgan, had a combined age of 62.

Ranieri turned this ragtag squad into title winners by going back to basics, always playing 4-4-2 and picking a settled starting line-up. His team averaged just 42.4 percent possession per game and completed the second-lowest percentage of passes in the league, but they pressed aggressively, won the ball back regularly and gave it to Vardy or Riyad Mahrez to provide magic in attack. They were also deadly from set-pieces.

In the heat of a four-way title race with Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham, Ranieri ensured his players stayed calm, saying 'dilly ding, dilly dong' to keep them concentrated and getting them to make their own pizza to build team spirit. He was the right man at the right time, and even though he was sacked nine months later, he will forever be a part of Leicester and Premier League folklore as the manager who made the impossible happen.

Lippi was one of the most dominant managers in the 1990s, winning a Champions League and multiple Serie A titles with Juventus. He remained successful with the Old Lady when the new century began, although his finest act of the past 25 years came in 2006, when he led Italy to win the World Cup.

Italian football was in turmoil as news of the 'Calciopoli' scandal broke, and yet Lippi instilled an unbreakable spirit in his team, who knocked out hosts Germany in an unforgettable semi-final before overcoming the disappointment of conceding early in the final with France to go on and win on penalties.

This was Italian football at its finest, as Lippi's team showed incredible defensive discipline throughout the tournament while taking their few chances. There was also some expert gamesmanship, with Mateo Materazzi getting into Zinedine Zidane's head and causing the legendary midfielder to get himself sent off in the final for headbutting the Azzurri defender.

Having conquered Italian and international football, Lippi took a leap into the unknown by heading to China and collected even more honours, winning three league titles in a row as well as the Asian Champions League with Guangzhou Evergrande.

Not many managers can claim to have won the Champions League with two clubs, and fewer still have been sacked the day after on both occasions. Heynckes finished the last century by ending Real Madrid's 32-year wait for European glory, but celebrated it far away from the players, knowing he was going to be fired whatever happened.

Heynckes then had a difficult start to the new century, with disappointing and short-lived spells in charge of Benfica, Athletic Club, Schalke and Borussia Monchengladbach, but returned to the heights he had once scaled when he was named manager of Bayern Munich for a third time.

He took the Bavarian giants to the Champions League final in their own stadium in 2012, only to lose on penalties to Chelsea, while he also lost the DFB Pokal final 5-2 to Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund. But the following season, Bayern bounced back emphatically.

Heynckes' side swept to the Bundesliga title in record time, also making history for the most points, most wins, most clean sheets, best goal difference and fewest goals conceded in a season. They also avenged defeat in the finals of the Pokal and the Champions League, completing the treble for the first time. Heynckes pulled this off despite learning months earlier that he was going to be replaced by Pep Guardiola.

Following the Catalan's reign, Heynckes came out of retirement to lead Bayern for a fourth time in 2017, winning yet another Bundesliga title aged 73.

Van Gaal had a difficult start to the new century, overseeing the Netherlands' failure to qualify for the 2002 World Cup - the first time since 1986 - and then endured a horrendous second tenure with Barcelona, as he was dismissed in January 2003 with the team three points above the relegation zone.

He rebuilt his career back in the Netherlands by guiding AZ Alkmaar to only the second Eredivisie title in their history and then was named Bayern Munich boss, where he won the Bundesliga title and reached the Champions League final in his first season in Bavaria. Typically, though, he fell out with the Bayern hierarchy and squad during the following campaign, and in a surreal moment, showed his private parts to the squad to prove a point to Franck Ribery.

Van Gaal remained a candidate for top jobs, and after guiding the Netherlands to the 2014 World Cup semi-finals, he was named Manchester United boss in 2014. His time at Old Trafford had some great highs, including winning the FA Cup, although the football was achingly dull at times. He made up for it with more hilarious antics in press conferences and on the sidelines, whether it was talking of sex masochism or diving to the floor against Arsenal.

Van Gaal took a long hiatus from football after leaving United, but made a welcome return as Netherlands boss for a third time, leading them to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2022 despite battling cancer at the same time.

Legendary Lazio striker Inzaghi took charge of his former club in 2016 despite having no managerial experience, getting the job after Marcelo Bielsa resigned after just one week in charge. In that first season, Inzaghi led the team to the first of three top-five finishes and to the final of the Coppa Italia, where they lost to Juventus. He delivered the cup two years later, though, and in his fourth campaign, qualified Lazio for the Champions League for the first time in 13 years.

Inzaghi's success led to him earning one of the biggest jobs in the country when he was named Inter coach in 2021, and he has made the Nerrazurri one of the top sides in Europe once more. His side reached the Champions League final in 2023 and, were it not for Romelu Lukaku's atrocious finishing, might have toppled Manchester City in Istanbul. It was a rare defeat in a showpiece game for Inzaghi, who has won eight out of nine domestic finals he has coached in.

That record underlines his abilities as a strategist, but he has also implemented a recognisable and exciting brand of football. It is baffling that Inzaghi's name is rarely mentioned whenever there is a vacancy at a top club, but Inter are more than happy to keep this master tactician for themselves.

"It's been 15 long years with a lot of wonderful moments and, of course, some disappointments," said Joachim Low after taking charge of his last game with Germany, the last-16 defeat to England at Euro 2020. The loss at Wembley came three years after a humiliating group-stage exit at the World Cup, and those disappointments tarnished for some what was an extraordinary legacy.

Prior to 2018, Low's tournament record was beyond reproach: one World Cup triumph and a semi-final, one European Championship final and two semi-finals. Let's throw in the 2017 Confederations Cup for good measure, too.

The World Cup triumph in 2014 was 10 years in the making following a reboot led by the German federation after the disaster of Euro 2004. And Low was the national team's figurehead in that period of renewal. Everything clicked for his side in Brazil, beginning with the 4-0 thrashing of Portugal in their opening game, through to the seismic 7-1 humiliation of the hosts in what has become known as the 'Mineirazo' before completing the job in the final by beating Lionel Messi's Argentina.

Low made mistakes towards the end of his long tenure, but Germany's group-stage exit at the 2022 World Cup and their quarter-final defeat to Spain in this year's Euros have only served to highlight what a fine job he did while in charge.

"Rafa Benitez is the best tactician there is," a former player once told GOAL. "But he is a bad person." That sums up the range of feelings that exist for this garlanded yet divisive coach. Benitez remains a hero among Valencia, Liverpool and Newcastle fans, but he is hugely unpopular with supporters of Everton, Real Madrid, Inter and Chelsea.

The Spaniard had next to no playing career, but built a reputation as a strategist in Spain and took Valencia to two La Liga titles in the space of three years while also winning the UEFA Cup. Within one season of joining Liverpool, he had won the club's first Champions League in 21 years and soon took them to another final.

Benitez's reputation took a tumbling when he succeeded Jose Mourinho at Inter and was sacked halfway through the season, but he still got to lift the Club World Cup. He restored his reputation with Chelsea by leading the club to the Europa League despite the fans booing him in practically every game, and won yet more silverware with Napoli.

Benitez was then worshipped by Newcastle fans for leading them back to the Premier League while standing up to hated owner Mike Ashley, though the Spaniard has struggled to keep up with the modern demands of the game, lasting less than a year in his last two jobs with Everton and Celta Vigo. His people skills have long been criticised, but when it comes to picking a team and a strategy to win, Benitez is one of the best.

"People used to see me as some sort of antidote to those who love beautiful football, but there needs to be a balance in all things. Not all of it is to be thrown in the bin," said Massimiliano Allegri during his brief hiatus from football. "In Italy, we tend to look at the negative things and we should focus on the positive." Never was a truer word spoken.

Allegri has divided opinion among Juventus fans and in Italian football, but for every argument about his supposedly negative style of play, he can counter with the fact that he is darned good at winning. He lifted five consecutive Serie A titles between 2015 and 2019, four of which were doubles - the only coach to pull off either feat - and reached two Champions League finals. He is the only coach to have accrued more than 1000 points in Serie A, has the highest win percentage (among coaches with at least 150 games) and his side went two years and a record 41 home league games without losing.

Allegri parted ways with Juventus in 2019, but just two years later, after Maurizio Sarri and rookie Andrea Pirlo left after single seasons, he returned to Turin. Allegri would have achieved top-four finishes in his three seasons were it not the club's 10-point deduction for financial irregularities, which took place while he was not in charge. He also won the Coppa Italia, but the Bianconeri board chose to fire him for his antics during the final.

The dull football his side had served up clearly played its part too, but don't be surprised if Allegri is back in Turin in a couple of years and wins them yet more trophies.

Flick had worked for most of his post-playing career in behind-the-scenes roles, but within the last five years has proven himself to be a top coach in his own right, having a stunning spell in charge of Bayern Munich before now leading Barcelona's thrilling resurgence.

His coaching career began in the earthy surroundings of German amateur football before joining Joachim Low's staff with the national team in 2006. Flick was in the dugout when Germany won the 2014 World Cup, later becoming the national team's sporting director.

He returned to coaching in 2019 as the assistant of Bayern manager Nico Kovac, and when the Croatian was sacked, he proved to be an outstanding interim boss. Bayern swept to a domestic double in style and then completed the treble by winning the Champions League, becoming the first team to win every single game on their way to lifting the trophy. Among their many wins was the 8-2 demolition of Barcelona, arguably the most shocking result in the competition's history.

Flick seemed a natural choice to replace Low as national team manager, but he oversaw a terrible campaign at the 2022 World Cup, going out in the group stage and subsequently became the first ever Germany manager to be sacked. His failure in Qatar seemed to confirm the suspicions of those who had suggested he had been lucky at Bayern, but Barcelona president Joan Laporta thought otherwise, sacking club icon Xavi in order to hire Flick. And that decision has been vindicated as Barca are ripping it up in La Liga and in the Champions League, having recently demolished Bayern and Real Madrid.

When Borussia Dortmund had the unenviable task of choosing a successor to Jurgen Klopp, they looked to the man who could best mimic the departing manager's pressing style. Tuchel, like Klopp, had spent a long and successful period at Mainz, but it was his spell at Dortmund that really put him on the map. Paris Saint-Germain came calling in 2018 and a year later the German won his first league title, which he followed by doing a clean sweep of the four domestic trophies in 2019-20 as well as reaching the Champions League final.

His best achievement came in his next job with Chelsea, turning a demotivated and under-performing side under Frank Lampard into European champions in just four months. He also took Chelsea to five finals out of a potential six, all while navigating the club through the end of the Roman Abramovich era.

Tuchel was the first casualty of the Todd Boehly era and his sacking looks like the biggest error the new ownership regime has made. Still, Tuchel has remained in high demand, being hired by Bayern Munich in 2023 and then being named England boss.

Didier Deschamps might expect some gratitude from his compatriots for winning the World Cup both as a player and a manager, but he often finds himself the subject of fierce criticism for the way his side play. The former midfielder has been in charge of Les Bleus for more than 12 years and he said last month, "I know people are tired of seeing my face." For several years there has been a popular clamour for Zinedine Zidane to replace him as coach, but the French Football Federation keep sticking with their man. And given his record at major tournaments, it is easy to see why.

Deschamps led France to the 2018 World Cup and only missed out on winning a second consecutive world crown in Qatar on penalties. His side also reached the final of Euro 2016 and the semi-finals of Euro 2024.

Granted, he has the advantage of working with one of the finest squads in the world and has been blessed with a generational talent in Kylian Mbappe, but Deschamps has managed to strike the right balance with his team selection. Just look at his use of Olivier Giroud, who didn't have one shot on target during the 2018 World Cup but played a pivotal role in the triumph, or how he managed to get Paul Pogba to curb his individualistic tendencies.

As Patrice Evra put it: "The best quality of Didier Deschamps is to build a squad. He won’t pick the best player, his motivation is 'the team is the star'. For me he's the greatest French manager by miles!"

After Argentina were dumped out of the 2018 World Cup by France following an emotional rollercoaster of a tournament in Russia, many fans and influential voices wanted their federation to make a big statement when it came to appointing a successor to disgraced Jorge Sampaoli. What they did not want was a new coach who had been part of Sampaoli's backroom staff and whose only experience of coaching was at youth level. In other words, they did not want Lionel Scaloni.

"Scaloni is a good guy, but he can't even direct traffic," said a disgruntled Diego Maradona. "The problem is tomorrow he becomes a coach and says 'I want to go to the World Cup'. You can go to the World Cup of motorcycling, not football."

Scaloni did not just go to the World Cup, though; he came back with the trophy, just as Maradona had done. And either side of that glorious conquest in Qatar, he twice won the Copa America, which Argentina had not previously won since 1993.

In Qatar, Scaloni built the perfect environment for Lionel Messi to thrive in, and he defied expectations about his coaching ability by tweaking his line-up in each game to suit the opponent, using five different formations in the seven games. Messi said: "Scaloni knows how to suffer when he must suffer, read the games, when to withdraw and when to press. He is a very good coach who leaves nothing to chance. He shows you every detail and then it happens."

Messi was naturally lauded for Argentina's long-awaited triumph, but another man called Lionel was equally important.

One of the classiest players of his era, Mancini brought the same sense of swagger to the dugout, oozing confidence which often smacked of arrogance. It has led to him having a number of infamous standoffs with players, most notably with Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli during his time at Manchester City. Despite that history of rubbing people up the wrong way, he has been responsible for some epic triumphs, winning 11 major trophies along the way.

Mancini won two Serie A titles with Inter (plus one awarded retrospectively) and replicated that success with Manchester City, leading the club to their first trophy in 35 years by winning the FA Cup and then a first league title in 44 years. Strangely for a manager seen to be out of touch with his players, he managed to keep morale up when the team were eight points behind Manchester United with six games to go, overseeing a stunning push to overhaul their local rivals.

A disappointing second spell at Inter followed an underwhelming season with Galatasaray before Mancini turned his hand to international management. He whipped an underachieving and largely inexperienced Italy side into shape and led them to glory at Euro 2020, but another disappointment lay around the corner and less than a year later Italy failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, losing a play-off at home to North Macedonia.

Mancini is now looking for another job after recently leaving his post as coach of Saudi Arabia.

Unai Emery has been in management for 20 years, coaching in four different countries and winning countless trophies. And yet it is only now that he is getting the recognition he deserves.

Emery secured three consecutive top-three finishes in La Liga with Valencia, but was hounded out of Mestalla and did not last long at his next job with Spartak Moscow. He returned to Spain to take charge of Sevilla, and in his first season won the Europa League, knocking Valencia out in the process. He won two more Europa League titles with Sevilla, earning him his biggest job yet with Paris Saint-Germain.

He was wounded badly in France by surrendering the Ligue 1 title to Monaco and losing 6-1 to Barcelona to exit the Champions League, although he reclaimed the league crown in his second season. The next club to come calling was Arsenal, and Emery got off to a superb start as Arsene Wenger's successor, winning 11 games in a row, before fading. The Gunners reached the Europa League final, losing to Chelsea, and narrowly missed out on the top four. Criticism, however, rained down upon him early in the second campaign, some of it bordering on xenophobic, and he was dismissed before Christmas.

As ever, Emery returned to Spain and rebuilt his reputation with Villarreal, particularly after winning the Europa League for a record fourth time, beating Manchester United in the final. He was on the verge of becoming Newcastle manager in 2021, but rejected the Magpies' offer, though a second offer from the Premier League, this time from Aston Villa, was too good to turn down. And Emery has exceeded all expectations by not just taking Villa to the Champions League for the first time, but overseeing a brilliant start to their European campaign, including a famous win over Bayern Munich.

Wenger had brought English football into the future late in the 20th century, and his forward-thinking approach continued to deliver success for Arsenal in the new millennium. The Gunners ransacked Old Trafford to reclaim the Premier League title in 2002 while losing no away games and the FA Cup. Two years later, his side went one better, finishing the season unbeaten in the league.

Another FA Cup was won in 2005 while Champions League final followed in 2006, though his side went down to 10 men against Barcelona and conceded twice late on. A nine-year trophy drought ensued, but Arsenal then won three FA Cups in four seasons. Discontent still brewed among fans over the lack of a serious title challenge and the 'Wenger Out' movement was born, with placards turning up in far-flung places, from London to New York to Zimbabwe and even Wrestlemania. At the same time, Arsenal kept finishing in the top four, qualifying for the Champions League for 19 consecutive seasons.

That run ended in 2017 and a year later Wenger bowed out of Arsenal after 22 years, having won three titles and seven FA Cups. But his real legacy was the Emirates Stadium, a symbol of the Gunners' stratospheric growth under his watch. As his old rival Sir Alex Ferguson put it: "Arsene transformed Arsenal Football Club fantastically."

Every time Conte takes charge of a team, success instantly follows. Admittedly, he often leaves scorched earth in his wake, but not many managers can claim to have won five league titles across two leagues, restoring huge clubs such as Juventus, Inter and Chelsea to glory after inheriting messes from his predecessors. Conte's knack for achieving short-term success followed by a bitter fallout was epitomised by his brief time with Tottenham, whom he inspired to a top-four finish within six months of taking charge before talking himself into getting sacked in an incredible press conference rant.

The fiery Italian is back in business with Napoli and could be on his way to winning a Serie A title with a third club. It is bound to end in tears in little more than a year, but if it means a repeat of the incredible scenes when the club when the Scudetto in 2023, it will have been worth it.

The one black mark against Conte, aside from his temper, is his European record: he has never gone beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League, a failure considering the teams he has managed.

Luis Enrique followed in the exact same footsteps of Pep Guardiola by playing for Barcelona, taking charge of the club's reserve team, going on to manage the first team and then winning every trophy imaginable with them. An idol of the Camp Nou faithful, he inherited a stale team from Gerardo Martino and shook them up. although perhaps his greatest decision was to back down from a conflict with Lionel Messi in January 2015 after the Argentine took issue with being benched. After a tense few days, the pair made their peace, and five months later, Barca swept to a clean sweep of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, led by perhaps the greatest front three of all time in Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar.

Luis Enrique retained the title in his next season and won the Copa del Rey twice more before taking charge of Spain, with whom he reached the Euro 2020 semi-finals and the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup. He returned to club management in 2023 to take the reins of Paris Saint-Germain, promptly adding the Ligue 1 title and Coupe de France to his trophy cabinet.

Del Bosque was Real Madrid manager for only three-and-a-half seasons, but managed to win seven trophies, including two Champions Leagues and two La Liga titles. He was Spain manager for eight years and won the World Cup and the European Championship. In a remarkably short space of time, he completed football.

Despite his remarkable achievements, Del Bosque never got the respect he deserved. The day after winning his second league title in 2003, he was sacked, learning the news as he was passing through a corridor inside Santiago Bernabeu. Madrid president Florentino Perez said at the time that Del Bosque's methods were too traditional and that the club were looking for someone more sophisticated, but it took Madrid another 11 years before they won another Champions League. Perhaps those traditional methods weren't so bad after all...

Spanish football clubs are not known for being patient with managers, yet Diego Simeone has managed to spend 13 years at Atletico Madrid, turning the Rojiblancos from a basket case at risk of being relegated into one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Atletico have finished in the top four in La Liga in all 12 full seasons under Simeone, twice lifting the title. They have also reached two Champions League finals - losing to Real Madrid each time in the most agonising of circumstances - and won two Europa Leagues, plus one Copa del Rey.

But it's not just about silverware. The fiery Argentine has utterly transformed the club, who now play in one of the best stadiums in the continent. In an everchanging football landscape, when it is not unusual for clubs to change managers three times in a season, the sound of worshipping Atletico fans chanting 'Ole Ole Ole, Cholo Simeone' is one constant. More than a football coach, he is the leader of a religion: Cholismo.

Zidane's critics dismissed his abilities by saying he always got lucky. But luck only gets you so far; it does not win you three consecutive Champions Leagues, two La Liga titles and the devotion of some of the best players in the world. Zidane did have the good fortune to manage Real Madrid when Cristiano Ronaldo was in his pomp, but predecessors Rafa Benitez, Manuel Pellegrini and Jose Mourinho could not come close to his achievements.

And given the pressure from all quarters of the media, a highly demanding Santiago Bernabeu plus a tyrannical president in Perez, Madrid is hardly a straightforward club to manage. But Zidane, whose smile could disarm a pit of bears, made it look easy. And when he resigned in 2018, the club fell to pieces to the point that they begged him to come back 10 months later. If Carlo Ancelotti does not see out this season after the team's troubling start to the season, do not be surprised if Perez calls his old friend again.

Klopp has resurrected two sleeping giants, first Borussia Dortmund and then Liverpool, and turned them into winning machines. His high-pressing, lightning-quick Dortmund took European football by storm, twice beating Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title and reaching the Champions League final. He then brought 'Gegenpressing' to the Premier League and ended Liverpool's 30-year wait for a league title, while missing out on two more by just one point. He also took the Reds to three Champions League finals, winning one.

As well as being a relentless and brilliant coach, Klopp's charisma has lured more and more fans to the church of Liverpool. And when he announced he was leaving the club earlier this year, there was an outpouring of tributes from across the game including his fiercest rivals. And as much as Manchester United and Manchester City fans loved to hate him, deep down, they wished he was their manager.

Mourinho has won many things, as he never tires of reminding everyone, but most significantly, he has elevated the status of managers from bureaucrats into rock stars. He is the Mick Jagger of coaching, owning the stage of whichever club he goes to.

Ever since he rolled into Chelsea in 2004 as a European champion and declared himself 'The Special One', no one in football has been able to take their eyes off Mourinho and he remains a compelling, unmissable figure even now he is far from the top level of the game at Fenerbahce.

Mourinho may be way past the peak of his powers, but his record remains outstanding: Champions League triumphs with Porto and Inter, eight league titles across Portugal, England, Spain and Italy while managing the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Roma. Anyone with a CV like that would think they were special too.

In 1993, Ferguson delivered Manchester United's first league title in 26 years, and given the shambolic way the club has been run since his departure, it could be another 26 years before they win another. The Glaswegian ran Old Trafford with an iron fist and he was always planning for the future, working so hard that he never dared take a day off. In 27 years with United, Ferguson led the Red Devils to 13 league titles, five FA Cups and two Champions Leagues. Even if you only count his honours in the 21st century, he has won more than most of the managers on this list.

He famously knocked Liverpool off their perch and put United on it instead. And he ultimately saw off challenges from Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City before calling it a day in 2013. But his true influence is being felt now, more than a decade later, with United still looking rudderless without his leadership and now on their seventh manager in 11 years.

Ancelotti once wrote a book called 'Quiet Leadership', and the title perfectly sums up his approach to management. He has rarely made a fuss, demanded respect from his peers or blamed referees when things have gone against him. Ancelotti lets his record do the talking instead, and it is easy to see why. He is the only manager to have won the title in each of Europe's top five leagues, and no-one in the history of the game has won as many European Cups as him.

In his first spell at Real Madrid, he was once accused of having a "soft hand". His response was perfect: "With this soft hand, I have won three European Cups." The number is now five.

Ancelotti's reputation for being more of a man-manager than a brilliant tactician persists, but those who have worked with him know what he is capable of, and that is why Madrid turned to him in 2021 when he was at Everton and his stock appeared to be at an all-time low. His second coming at Madrid has been packed with silverware, yielding two La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues, the Copa del Rey, two Spanish Super Cups and two UEFA Super Cups. His side might be experiencing a blip in form at the moment, but Ancelotti always stumbles upon a winning formula sooner or later.

Guardiola has taken football to new heights with each team he has coached. He has won 12 league titles in 14 seasons, breaking the record for points totals in La Liga and the Premier League while winning the Bundesliga in the fastest time ever.

He is relentless, never allowing his players to rest on their laurels or get complacent. And he is constantly innovating, coming up with new tactical manoeuvres in every game, adapting the team to the qualities of his squad. To take one example, for much of his time at City he had played without a centre-forward. But once he knew City could sign Erling Haaland, he changed the way they played to accommodate the Norwegian, leading to the striker becoming the most prolific player in Premier League history.

Guardiola's constant quest for perfection led City to win the treble in 2023, finally ending their long wait to win the Champions League. That level of success would have led many clubs to relax the following campaign, but instead his side did what no club in 135 years of English football had previously done and won the league title for the fourth consecutive time.

Guardiola is experiencing a very rare dip in results at the moment, having gone seven games without a win for the first time in his career. But he remains as hungry as ever to put things right, signing a new contract that will keep him at City until 2027. And that's terrible news for anyone who wants to see a team other than his win the league again.