Luis Enrique Joins Elite Champions League Managers—Can He Cement His Legacy Among Football’s Greatest?

The trophy lifted by Paris Saint-Germain was historic, as they became Champions League winners for a second consecutive time after last year’s title. However, the victory over Arsenal was also huge for Luis Enrique.

Many teams have repeated the title in the past, but only 10 managers had done it, and Luis Enrique has now joined that group. Since the competition was rebranded as the Champions League for the 1993-94 season, he is only the second manager to achieve the feat.

This had previously been done by Zinedine Zidane, who remains the only manager to win the title three times, doing so with Real Madrid from 2016 to 2018. Surviving a dramatic penalty shootout was worthy of recognition for a manager joining a group that many notable colleagues were unable to reach.

The nine who did it in the European Cup

It is not expected to see many managers doing this in the current era, since the competition is newer. The European Cup years saw legendary clubs win the title in consecutive seasons, which seems harder to see these days.

Zidane won three consecutive titles (Lars Baron/Getty Images)

What makes up this list is a set of iconic teams that often changed managers even in successful seasons, with Real Madrid being the clearest example of their dominance in the 1950s, while Bayern Munich and Milan also did it in their glorious eras.

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This leaves the total of managers who repeated as European Cup winners at nine: José Villalonga (Real Madrid, 1956-1957), Luis Carniglia (Real Madrid, 1958-1959), Béla Guttmann (Benfica, 1961-1962), Helenio Herrera (Inter Milan, 1964-1965), Stefan Kovács (Ajax, 1972-1973), Dettmar Cramer (Bayern Munich, 1975-1976), Bob Paisley (Liverpool, 1977-1978), Brian Clough (Nottingham Forest, 1979-1980), and Arrigo Sacchi (AC Milan, 1989-1990).

The failed third consecutive trophy

The other times there was a chance for a third straight title came in 1958 for Villalonga. Real Madrid won that year, but under Carniglia, who could also have done it in 1960 when his club won the European Cup again. However, Muñoz was the manager then. In 1963, Guttmann guided Benfica to back-to-back titles before they were beaten by Milan in the final.

In 1966, Herrera took Inter to the semifinals, where they lost to Real Madrid. In 1974, a surprising second-round defeat to CSKA Sofia prevented Kovács from completing the feat. In 1977, Cramer was chasing history with a fantastic Bayern Munich side until they lost to Dynamo Kyiv in the quarterfinals.

In 1979, Paisley could not repeat because of a first-round loss to Nottingham Forest led by Clough. However, he would have his revenge when Liverpool won the title in 1981, with Clough then chasing a third straight crown. Sacchi came close to a third trophy in 1991 with a legendary team before they fell to Olympique de Marseille in the quarterfinals.

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