Carlo Ancelotti has become just the third man to reach eight Champions League semi-finals after Real Madrid saw off Chelsea on Tuesday night.
The Italian watched on as Los Blancos knocked out the defending champions in extra-time at the Bernabeu. Madrid had won the first-leg 3-1 in west London, owing largely to Karim Benzema's brilliance, but found themselves 3-0 down in the Spanish capital. Rodrygo's strike meant the tie went to extra-time before Benzema headed home the decisive goal.
Real will play either Atletico Madrid or Manchester City in the last four with Ancelotti eyeing an unprecedented fourth Champions League triumph. The 62-year-old has reached the semi-finals in this competition on three occasions with Madrid whilst also doing so on numerous occasions with AC Milan.
Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are the only other two men to make eight semi-finals in the European Cup. Guardiola could make that nine should hit City side see off Atletico. His success has come largely at Barcelona and Bayern Munich whilst he guided City to a first last term en route to the final.
Mourinho meanwhile first made the last four with Porto, when he guided the Portuguese outfit to the trophy back in 2004. He has reached a further three with Chelsea, three with Real and one with Inter Milan, back in 2010 when the Italian side claimed an historic treble.
Ancelotti has lifted the European Cup on more occasions than both Guardiola and Mourinho. They have each won two apiece whilst the Italian has won three - joint with Zinedine Zidane as the competition's most successful manager. His first success came back in 2003 with Milan before he won it again four years later.
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He guided Madrid to their much craved La Decima triumph back in 2014 as they beat city rivals Atletico in Lisbon. He was sacked 12 months later but returned for a second spell in charge in the summer. Ancelotti's switches were praised by Luka Modric following the win. The Croatian said: “The manager did great changes. They did well.
"In this competition experience is playing an important role and I think today it helped us a bit. For me, they are the most difficult team to play against. they are a tough, physical team. We knew it would be tough. In the end we showed great character, desire and togetherness to manage to turn it around. A defeat that is very sweet.”
"We won this tie thanks to energy," Ancelotti said after the game. "I made the changes I made to add energy. The team suffered a lot and all the players gave their all. We didn't deserve to be 2-0 down. We struggled, after the 2-0 we had a psychological slump, but the magic of the stadium helped us a lot again."
