Louis van Gaal: The Man Who Took Bayern to the Summit of World Football

Louis van Gaal

The Man Who Took Bayern to the Summit of World Football

Saturday 22nd May, will see German side Bayern Munich play Inter Milan, in their first Champions League final for nine years. In 2001, they faced and beat Spanish side Valencia 5-4 on penalties after the game ended 1-1 in normal time. It was heartbreak for the Spanish side, losing their second final in the world’s biggest club competition for the second successive year.

On that day in 2001, Bayern Munich’s team boasted the likes of Elber, Willy Sagnol, Bixente Lizarazu and German superstars Oliver Kahn, Stefan Effenberg and Mehmet Scholl. Great names, greater players, who epitomized the fundamentals of German dominance, a winning machine, comparable today with the likes of Chelsea and Inter Milan, but it was this side in particular making viewers look on in envy as they collected their fourth Champions League title subsequently banishing the painful memory and overcoming that infamous 2-1 defeat to Man United two years earlier. Nine years on, the German side go into this final as unexpected underdogs, as they were completely overlooked after the quarterfinal draw was made; a distinct lack of respect was shown from certain members of the football community who flocked to betting shops to put their money on a Manchester United v Barcelona rematch.



Now they will line up on the home ground of Real Madrid, the Santiago Bernabeu, against one of the most in demand managers in the world right now; Jose Mourinho, and his Inter Milan side. A game made even more intriguing considering how Inter have grinded their way to the final, which included playing in a freezing cold Moscow, beating world champions FC Barcelona over two legs (while keeping Lionel “4 goals” Messi anonymous for the most part!) and of course Mourinho comfortably beating his former “boys” Chelsea. Inter dominated and impressed on route to the final, where as Bayern made it in somewhat controversial circumstances. A winner against Fiorentina, that was clearly offside, a lucky win over 10 man Manchester United before finally impressing against Lyon in the Semi-final.

The man, who has taken FC Bayern to the final, is Louis van Gaal. The 59 year old is a Dutch master tactician, and has only ever manager 4 club sides (Ajax, FC Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar and now Bayern) and 1 international side (Netherlands) but has undeniable pedigree and is one of the best managers in history. The 59 year old's CV is as follows:

Ajax:
3 Eredivise Titles 92/93, 93/94, 95/96
3 Dutch Super Cups 92/93, 93/94, 94/95
1 Dutch League Cup 92/93
1 UEFA Cup 91/92
1 Champions League 94/95
1 UEFA Super Cup 95
1 Intercontinental Cup 95



FC Barcelona:
2 La Liga Titles 97/98, 98/99
1 Copa Del Rey 97/98
1 UEFA Super Cup 97

AZ Alkmaar
1 Eredivisie 08/09

FC Bayern Munich
1 Bundesliga 09/10
1 German Cup 09/10
1 Champions League??

More trophies then you can shake a stick at. He took Dutch side Ajax, to world domination in the early 90’s and turned the likes of; Kluivert, Kanu, Finidi George, Rijkaard, Overmars, Edgar Davids into familiar household names, while the likes of Rivaldo, Luis Enrique, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery are just some of the names he has worked with. Now the great work continues as he could possibly lead Bayern to the infamous “Treble”.



Two intriguing managers, two excellent teams and an array of star players on show will undoubtedly provide the amount of entertainment that the final duly deserves. Some are already believing Inter Milan’s name to already be on the trophy, however a manager with the credentials of van Gaal cannot be taken lightly, and I fully expect an upset to be on the cards.

Viewers in the UK, can see the final live from 7pm on ITV1 or Sky Sports 1 on Saturday 22nd May.

Who Do You Think Will Come Out On Top??

Real Talk Football

Jose Mourinho: The Special One

The Man

Arguments again have arisen amongst football fans regarding the best 3 managers in the world, while I’m hearing names such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola, I believe Jose Mourinho should be in place of the Spaniard, although I respect Guardiola’s excellence with Barcelona, Mourinho’s ethics and impact on the game as a whole cannot be discounted.

The man with a degree in physical education, specialising in football methodology, worked many minor jobs before working his way to becoming the late great Bobby Robson’s apprentice, and subsequent assistant manager, at both FC Porto and FC Barcelona respectively in the mid 90’s. Motivational skills from Robson, and the added influence of Dutch tactician Louis van Gaal’s defensive mentality, preparation techniques and strategy, helped drive Mourinho’s appetite for management. In the year 2000, he got his first management job at Portuguese giants Benfica, but only lasted 9 months, before leaving to joining mid-table team Uniao de Leiria.



Portugal

After one year with Uniao de Leiria, which saw him take the side to their best ever finish in the Portuguese top flight history, finishing in 5th place at the end of the 2000-2001 season, caught the eye of the biggest side in Portugal, FC Porto. Near enough everyone in World football knows the success he had at the club, but here’s what truly showcased his abilities. When he joined in 2002, in his 1st full season he took the club to a Portuguese Liga Title with a record 86 points, along with collecting the Portuguese Cup to complete a domestic double. In addition, Porto conquered the Europe, winning the UEFA Cup, beating Celtic 3-2 in the final, after extra time; achieving the “treble” in his first season with the club.



In his second season in Portugal, he continued his brilliant success, regaining the Portuguese Liga title, while ending as runners-up in both the European Super Cup, losing to Andriy Shevchenko’s AC Milan, and Portuguese Cup, losing to rivals Benfica. But the truly amazing performance came in the Champions League, whereby the much unfancied Porto won the trophy, destroying AS Monaco in the final 3-0. On route to the final, Mourinho’s side beat the likes of Deportivo, Lyon and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.



Players become synonymous with teams, for example Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is known for players such as Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas, Alex Ferguson with Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, but it is dually noticed that Mourinho’s Porto side consisted of some of the best and relatively unknown players in Europe, with the likes of Benni McCarthy, Deco, Vitor Baia, Ricardo Carvalho, Derlei, Carlos Alberto, Maniche, Costinha all going on to play for many different successful clubs.



West London

After the final victory, it seemed the lure of the big European clubs was too much and English money machine Chelsea were the club of choice the coach who had took FC Porto to back to back league and European titles in just two seasons. Joining Chelsea in the summer of 2004, he aptly named himself “the special one”, the media followed, and the rest as they say; was history.

He immediately transferred Chelsea into a World Class side, taking them to their 1st ever Premiership title and 1st league title in 50 years, breaking all sorts of records in the process. The side collected the record of most Premiership points of 95, fewest number of goals conceded, 15, highest number of league wins, 29, and most clean sheets in a season with 25. In his second season at the club, as if a form of Marmite; people either hated him or loved him! he regained the Premiership, making it Chelsea’s 2nd title. He also helped Chelsea maintain an unbeaten home record (at 60 games when he left the club) that ended in 2008 with an astonishing 86 games.



In his time at the club he finalized the successful signings of the likes of Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Ashley Cole and Michael Ballack. The relatively average signings of Paulo Ferreira, Arjen Robben, and Shaun Wright-Phillips, and the poor signings of Tiago Mendes, Scott Parker, Mateja Kezman and of course Andriy Shevchenko. However Chelsea collected the 2005 Carling Cup, 2007 Carling Cup and 2007 FA Cup, while Mourinho left the club by mutual consent 2 months into the 2007/08 season.



New Beginnings

After a year away from the game, in the summer of 2008, Mourinho returned to football replacing Roberto Mancini as manager of Serie A Champions Inter Milan. He signed the likes of Sulley Muntari, Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder, getting rid of Adriano, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Hernan Crespo and Julio Cruz, while losing Luis Figo to retirement. He guided them to the Serie A title for the 17th time, tying in second with rival AC Milan in the history books, and they also picked up the Super cup. This season they look on course for another title and a Champion’s League semi-final, as they knocked out former side Chelsea on route.



Should he be considered as one of the best managers in the World? Unquestionable. He has revolutionised the game with his methods, and ability. Known for his confidence (sometimes regarded as arrogance), attention to detail, psychological influence and winning mentality, he has amassed one of the best records in Europe. With his unforgettable quotes, and success he has been touted as a future Real Madrid, Manchester United or even Arsenal manager in the near future. No matter what the case he is definitely a manager, who is respected throughout the game, in which fellow professionals will look to emulate, and is one of the most sought after managers in the World.

The Excellence of Didier Drogba

The striker started his career as an apprentice and made his debut as an 18 year old for French side Le Mans. In his early career his was a player who was troubled by injury, and managed to sign his first professional contract with the French ligue 2 side Le Mans, at the relatively late age of 21. He spent 4 years with “MUC72” scoring 12 times in 64 appearances.

In the 2001/02 season Drogba joined Ligue 1 side Guingamp for a fee of £80,000 scoring 3 goals in 11 appearances, most notably an equaliser against giants Lyon in a historic 3-3 draw. Undoubtedly he managed to help the club avoid relegation in his first season. In his second season with the French side, the Ivorian showcased his potential scoring 17 goals in 34 games, which caught the eye of Europe’s big guns.

At the start of the 2003/04 season he was snapped up by “the club of his dreams” Olympic Marseille for a fee of £3.3million, and given the number 11 shirt to wear. This was the best season of his career so far, as he played Champions League football for the first time where he scored 5 goals in 6 matches despite Marseille only featuring in the group stages. In Ligue 1 he was the star player of the season, where he scored 19 goals in 35 matches, in which many of the finishes highlighted his brilliance up front and lead him to pick up several awards including; the Ligue 1 “goal of the year”, “Player of the Year” and a place in the Ligue 1 “Team of the Year”.


In this magical season his brilliance helped take Olympic Marseille to reach the UEFA Cup Final, helping himself to 6 goals in the process, scoring against the likes of Liverpool, Inter Milan and Newcastle. The French side lost to Valencia 2-0 in the final after their luck had seemingly ran out, and Drogba was unlucky to be on the losing side.

In 2004, at the age of 26, Didier Drogba left the Stade Velodrome for Stamford Bridge in a transfers saga that ended with a the striker joining Chelsea for a fee of £24million. He would end his career at Marseille with a record of 30 goals in 51 games. He was signed by Jose Mourinho and scored his first ever goal against Crystal Palace, wearing the number 15 shirt. In his first season he helped Chelsea to win the Premiership for the first time since it became so, and helped the Blues win the League Cup, scoring and beating Liverpool 3-2 in the final. Drogba also had trouble this season, being accused of diving and cheating with the use of hands in finishing goals in big games, something Drogba refutably denied.


The 2005/06 season was a year of progression for the striker, Drogba started with 2 goals in a 2-1 win against Arsenal in the Community Shield. He then helped Chelsea retain their second Premiership title scoring a total of 17 goals in all competitions and creating 11 assists.

In the summer of 2006, Drogba captained his country Ivory Coast to the World Cup in Germany. Drogba’s side face the “Group of Death” after being drawn against Holland, Argentina and Serbia and Montenegro. The Elephants lost to Argentina and Holland 2-1 in both games with Drogba scoring against the Argentineans in the 82nd minute. The one win wasn’t enough as the Ivory Coast finished third in the group but gave an excellent account of themselves.



The 2006/07 was an excellent season for Drogba, as he switched to the number 11 shirt and he managed 33 goals in 60 games played for Chelsea. He picked up the Premiership Golden Boot for the first time with 20 goals, and helped Chelsea win the FA Cup final over Manchester United and the League Cup Final over Arsenal. He also picked up the Ivorian player of the year award, African player of the year and runner up to Cristiano Ronaldo in the PFA Player of the Year awards.



In the 2007/08 season saw Chelsea lose Mourinho and Drogba felt the most frustration at his departure expressing his desire to indeed leave the club too. Inter, AC Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid all circling Chelsea’s star player. However he did indeed stay at the bridge, whereby despite a season dogged by injury, he still reached the League Cup Final and Champions League Final, but losing to Tottenham and Manchester United respectively. Drogba was sent off in the Champions League Final. His tally for this season was 16 goals in 31 games.

The 2008/09 season saw Drogba score 16 goals in 42 games, and he took Chelsea to the final of the FA Cup, and the Blues beat to Everton 2-1 in the Final with Drogba scoring the first for Chelsea. The downside to the season was Drogba and Chelsea’s Champions League semi final defeat to Barcelona, where Andres Iniesta scored in the last minute, which furious protests from all the Chelsea players including Drogba; who confronted the referee and was seen swearing on Sky TV. The actions of the Ivorian saw him banned for 5 Champions League games.



In this current season Drogba the form of Didier Droga has been better than ever, he has taken Chelsea to the summit of the Premiership, continued tormenting teams, taking his tally of goals against Arsenal in his career to 12 goals in 12 games against Arsene Wenger’s side. He has helped his side to the knockout stages of the Champions’ League, Sixth round of the FA Cup and represented Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations. His tally so far for this season is 17 goals in 21 games, with 6 assists.



Blessed with strength, power, pace, finishing ability, great technique, skill and aerial ability, and despite being at the age of 31, Drogba is a world class player, and now considered the best and most complete striker in the world.

This is Real Talk Football’s tribute to the star

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