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REAL MADRID BOSS CARLO ANCELOTTI IS FIRST COACH TO REACH THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI-FINALS IN FOUR DIFFERENT DECADES

Ancelotti set a new landmark and further strengthened his claim that, if any coach is worthy of being known as "Mr. Champions League," it's him. Few can claim the sheer longevity enjoyed by the 62-year-old Italian, who has become part of the furniture in the latter stages of Europe's elite competition and lifted the trophy three times.

Ancelotti has now reached the semifinals of the competition in four different decades as a manager -- and that total goes up to five if you include his career as a player.

1980s

As a player, Ancelotti was part of the great AC Milan teams that won back-to-back European Cups in 1989 and 1990, a feat that would not be repeated for another quarter of a century until Real Madrid won their third in a row in 2018.

1990s

Almost exactly a decade later, Ancelotti returned to the semifinals of the Champions League for the first time as a coach when he successfully guided Juventus to the last four in 1998-99, after taking over from Marcello Lippi in February of that season. The Bianconeri were struggling for form but did at least manage to save some face in Europe by drawing 1-1 with Manchester United in the first leg of their semi at Old Trafford, before falling to a 3-2 home defeat in the second two weeks later. While Juve crashed out and limped to a disappointing seventh-place finish in Serie A, United went on to complete the Treble by beating Bayern Munich in the final.

2000s

Ancelotti spent eight years in charge at Milan between 2001 and 2009 and guided them to the semifinals of the Champions League on no fewer than four occasions. The first instance came in 2002-03, when the Rossoneri squeezed past rivals Inter Milan on away goals before beating Juventus in a thoroughly tedious final that was decided by a penalty shootout. The 2004-05 season saw Milan comfortably dispatch PSV Eindhoven in the semis before taking a 3-0 first-half lead against Liverpool in the final in Istanbul, only to be on the wrong end of one of the most stunning comebacks of all time and ultimately lose on penalties. Back-to-back semifinal runs then followed in 2005-06 and 2006-07, with the latter culminating in Ancelotti lifting the trophy for the second time as a manager after masterminding a 2-1 revenge victory over Liverpool in Athens.

2010s

After stints with Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain yielded little in the way of European success, Ancelotti landed the Real Madrid job in 2013 and promptly returned to the final four of the Champions League. Firstly, Real beat Bayern Munich 5-0 on aggregate in the semis to reach the 2013-14 final, where they put another four goals past Atletico Madrid to win "La Decima" -- the club's record 10th victory in the competition, claimed an agonising 12 years after their ninth. Ancelotti then took Real back to the semis in 2014-15 only to see their title defence halted by Juventus, who emerged with a 3-2 aggregate victory.

2020’s

It took seven years away and tenures with varying levels of success at Bayern Munich, Napoli and Everton, but Ancelotti's return to the Bernabeu has also coincided with the extension of his esteemed Champions League semifinal record. The milestone was officially passed on Tuesday thanks to Real's thrilling fightback against Chelsea. The former midfielder also got the chance to show he has not lost his touch with a nifty bit of ball control on the sidelines during the game.

The opponents now are strong. From Liverpool to ManCity, Real is only bigger than Villareal at the moment

A great man indeed!

Make he beat mancity first oo

habsydiamond:
Make he beat mancity first oo

Read before commenting

Henrinos:
Read before commenting

am not saying he is not a hero o. Don't get me wrong.. I am only referring to the future now.

habsydiamond:
am not saying he is not a hero o. Don't get me wrong.. I am only referring to the future now.

Ok oo

IMO, the man had exceeded expectations because this present Madrid squad is not too strong compared to what they used to have.

Only players worth mentioning are Modric and Benzema then vinicius at times.

if only arsenal was patient with unai emery he would had trasform d club. I see villareal doing a lechester in this season champions league. Liverpool should beware of villareal pacy wingers

Carlo has paid his dues BT his only dent on UCL history was dt 3-3 comback dt Liverpool did n won milan in ucl finals...