Tottenham: Watch for Mourinho versus Ancelotti in Everton game

When Tottenham Hotspur host Everton in their first match of the season, it is more than Spurs versus Toffees, it is also Jose Mourinho versus Carlo Ancelotti.

There are not many managers on the planet who can claim they have won more European trophies thank Jose Mourinho, but Carlo Ancelotti is one of them.

Although, the Portuguese maestro has more total trophies at 25, Jose only has four UEFA trophies – 2 Champions Leagues, a Cup Winners Cup, and a Europa League title. Ancelotti, on the other hand, has 19 total trophies but has three Champions League titles to his name and took all three of those teams to the UEFA Super Cup for five UEFA competition titles.

In other words, when Tottenham Hotspur faces Everton, it is also a matchup of two of the best managers in the world.

Two of the best in the world

If the measurement of a manager is trophies, these two have 44 combined, which is impressive by any standard. If it is success in different countries, they have collectively managed in six different countries as Mourinho won in Portugal, while Ancelotti won in Germany and France.

They have both have won trophies in England, Spain, and Italy. The trophies have been big and small with both winning multiple domestic cups and multiple domestic championships in multiple countries.

Maybe your idea of the best managers are the ones who actually receive the annual award as the best football coach in the world. Well, between these two, they account for 25 percent of the 24 awards ever given by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).

Mourinho has been recognized four times and Ancelotti twice. Ancelotti does have a trophy that Mourinho does not, the FIBA Club World Cup, and he has two of them winning the competition in 2007-08 with AC Milan and most recently in 2014-15 with Real Madrid.

The bottom line here, is these are two incredibly talented, serial-winning managers leading their respective sides on Sunday in north London.

Mourinho vs. Ancelotti head-to-head

One of the interesting things about the “rivalry” between Mourinho and Ancelotti is that there is hardly one, as despite their incredibly long careers and experience in so many different divisions, there have only been six meetings between the two coaches, including the 1-0 Tottenham win over Everton just a few months ago in July.

That meeting between the two was the first time Mourinho and Ancelotti had managed against one another in over a decade.

Prior to the July meeting, the last Mourinho v. Ancelotti matchup was when Mourinho’s Inter Milan side beat Ancelotti’s Chelsea 3-1 over two legs of the last 16 in the Champions League. That was the season when Mourinho and Inter won the treble and Jose won one of his coach of the year awards. Those two wins where wins number two and three of four-straight Mourinho has had over Carlo since the Italian won their first two meetings.

Notably, that first meeting between the two was when Ancelotti’s Milan topped Mourinho’s Porto team in the UEFA Super Cup en-route to Ancelotti’s first Club World Cup. Following that meeting, it was more than five years before the two met again, this time both in Italy, as Mourinho took over at Inter during Ancelotti’s last season at Milan before moving to Chelsea. That following season was when that Round of 16 tie occurred and then the two never faced each other again until this past July, more than 10 years later.

Now just some three months after their first meeting in 10 years, Ancelotti and Mourinho are slated to face each other at least twice this season, renewing a rivalry that never quite got fully started, but has the potential to be one of the best in the Premier League.

In Episode 2 of “All or Nothing”, I have no doubt that when Daniel Levy talked about two top, top coaches in the world and Mourinho being one of them and that they were both in the Premier League, many people immediately thought of Pep Guardiola.

However, with 19 trophies across five countries, five European trophies and two Club World Cup victories, maybe Carlo Ancelotti was the other coach Levy was referring too? Regardless, when Spurs meet the Toffees, do not overlook Mourinho versus Ancelotti, because they are two of the best.