The Managers who face off their former Mentor in the final

 

Football managers are rarely seen facing off against their old boss in the summit, except for very few of them.

Football can deliver strange fates, either for players or for gaffers. It might be more common to see the players facing off against their former boss. Yet, it is rare to find managers head-to-head against their old mentor.

In the current campaign, such can be ruled out as Chelsea and Real Betis square off in Wroclaw for the last stage of the UEFA Conference League final. The Blues’ boss, Enzo Maresca, publicly claimed that Betis’s Manuel Pellegrini had been considered his professional father. They have been so close and even still remain in contact ahead of their team’s meeting.

Maresca was once playing for Pellegrini’s Malaga in the 2011/12 campaign before working as one of his staff in West Ham. The former Leicester boss stayed in London Stadium from 2018 to 2019 before starting off his managerial career as a head coach at AC Parma in 2021.

The duel between Maresca and Pellegrini is certainly not the first one of its kind. There were two other finals in European competition which contested the teams whose managers were related in that role. Here are those two clashes between student and mentor with unsurprising results.

Jose Mourinho vs Louis Van Gaal (UCL 2010)

The current Fenerbahce boss was working under Louis van Gaal for three years in Barcelona, soon after Bobby Robson left the Catalan side in summer 1997. He continued his role as his assistant manager and learnt a lot from Van Gaal’s conscientious style of coaching.

He helped the Dutch boss clinch La Liga in his first two seasons plus the Copa del Rey in 1999. Mourinho was even given a chance to lead the team in some of the less important matches, like Copa Catalunya, as well as the Barcelona B side.

The duo parted ways in 2000 when Mou joined Benfica. That was the beginning of the Portuguese gaffer’s career before he rose to prominence with Benfica’s archrival, FC Porto, in 2003. The rest is history, as he thrived with Chelsea in the mid-2000s.

Mourinho grabbed the chance to sign for Inter Milan in 2008. He eventually took them to win Serie A twice and led them to the UCL final in 2010. That was when he finally saw off his former boss, Van Gaal.

The Dutchman had a less convincing career after he departed from the Catalan giant in 2000. He was at the helm of the Netherlands national team for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Yet, they failed to qualify. Van Gaal was making his return to Camp Nou in 2002, but his second stint was not as fruitful as it was in the first one. Barcelona fell into the mid-lower table under his command. He soon left on mutual consent in the middle of the season.

The former Ajax boss also made his return to the Amsterdammers in 2004 as a technical director but resigned due to the internal conflict with Ajax’s manager at that time, Ronald Koeman. Van Gaal finally clinched his moment of glory again when he joined AZ Alkmaar in 2005. He guided them to the title race before eventually snatching their own Eredivisie glory in 2009. That was followed by his move to the Bavarian side.

The duel between Mou’s Inter Milan and Van Gaal’s Bayern took place in Santiago Bernabeu. Both sides were involved in a tight affair till Nerrazurri broke the deadlock. The Argentine forward Diego Milito bagged a brace for his team. Mou beat his mentor by two goals to nil. It was his last game with the Italian giant before switching sides to Real Madrid.

Diego Simeone vs Marcelo Bielsa (Europa League 2012)

The current Atletico Madrid boss has established himself as the club’s legend by winning title after title up to this day. He arrived in Vicente Calderon in 2011 and soon became the key figure in Los Rojiblancos’s rise. The UEFA Cup 2012 was his first silverware with Atletico.

Diego Simeone was once playing under Marcelo Bielsa in the national team from 1998 to 2002, and he claimed that Bielsa was one of the managers he was inspired of. Although he was never working under his tutelage as his staff or assistant manager, Bielsa’s influence on Simeone has been inevitable, albeit indirectly.

In the 2012 UEFA Cup, Simeone led his current side while Bielsa was in charge of Athletic Bilbao. The latter guided them to their first European final in 35 years after beating Manchester United and Sporting Lisbon on the way to the summit. Simeone’s side also had to ease past Lazio and Valencia in the knockout stage.

The match itself was fairly even. Both sides traded attacks, but it was Los Cholconeros who opened the scoring within seven minutes. The Colombian international Falcao was at his peak and released a curling strike to the far post to find the back of the net. Bilbao attempted to penetrate Diego Godin and Co.’s backline but failed to capitalise on their attempts. In fact, they conceded again as Falcao scored his brace in the 34th minute. In the second half, Bielsa’s men once again sent waves of attack from almost all sides, but Thibaut Courtois and his teammates at the back managed to keep them at bay. Diego Cunha finally put the final coffin as he netted the third goal in the 84th minute.

Following such a disappointing defeat, Bielsa still stayed with the Basque side for another season, but their domestic campaign was even worse than the previous season. He then left the post and became the journeyman by taking charge of Marseille and Lille, Lazio and Leeds United without winning any silverware in hand. Bielsa is currently at the helm of the Uruguay national team for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

On the contrary, Diego Simeone remains at Atletico up to this day. He succeeds in delivering more trophies, including two UEFA Super Cups, the Copa del Rey 2013, two La Liga titles in 2014 and 2021, plus another Europa League title in 2018.