Real Madrid’s Head Coach, Zinedine Zidane, has been named the Best Club Manager in the world but former champion Jose Mourinho has ‘lost his magic and mojo’.
That’s according to leading French newspaper L’Equipewho have listed their rankings of the best club bosses in world football.
Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola joined Real Madridboss Zidane in the top three with the Frenchman pipping the Liverpooland Manchester Citymanagers in the table.
Zidane guided Real to the LaLiga title earlier this month, overtaking Barcelona who had held a two-point lead before the season resumed in June.
The 49-year-old will take his side to the Etihad to face Guardiola’s City on August 7 for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie.
And despite losing the first encounter 2-1 at the Bernabeu in February, L’Equipe believes Zidane ranks higher than the former Barcelona coach.
The newspaper wrote: “He (Zidane) is a coach who has experienced only one club, and quite rarely defeat.
“A coach who did what none of his predecessors did, win three Champions Leagues in a row (2016, 2017, 2018), who was able to return to the footsteps of his own glory and question everything to become a new Spanish champions with Real Madrid last month.
“Guardiola has something else, his dogma, his permanent research, the virtuosity of his collective game, dizzying constructions, his consistency (198 points in two seasons from 2017 to 2019), but he does not have everything, and chooses his central defenders as his attackers or midfielders.”
The outlet noted Klopp’s success and ‘charisma’ in bringing Liverpool their first league title in 30 years, describing him as the ‘fashionable man’ and ‘favourite of many’.
But they also pointed out the German has won just one of his three Champions League finals, in comparison to Zidane’s three in a row. The Frenchman defeated Klopp in the 2018 final before the Reds went on to win the competition in 2019.
There was little praise for Mourinho, described as Tottenham’s ‘fallback’ with a ‘fading image and magic’ who has been ‘aged’ by his encounters with Klopp and Guardiola.
On the Portuguese boss, L’Equipe wrote: “Jose Mourinho has lost his mojo for some time, weakened by the deleterious atmosphere of his ends, reigns at Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United.
“Here he is at Tottenham, equal to himself, still as efficient in the negotiations, still brilliant in press conference, still boring in the game, but seeming a million miles from his former glory.”
With Mourinho’s second seasons historically being his best, the newspaper claims he is at a pivotal point in his career at Spurs.
