Mourinho holds the key to a summer of managerial maneouvres in European football

29Apr 2013

Betfair

A possible job-swap between Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho is one of the talking-points before Real Madrid's Champions League semi-final second leg, reports Ben Lyttleton.

The images of Jose Mourinho chatting to Jurgen Klopp before Borussia Dortmund beat Real Madrid 4-1 in the Champions League semi-final first leg last week were fascinating. The pair shared a joke - it was the first time many had seen Mourinho smile for a while - and within a day German paper Bild was claiming that Mourinho had told Klopp he was heading to Chelsea next season.

There seems little doubt now that Mourinho is in his end-game in Madrid, even more so if the team fails to overcome a 4-1 deficit to reach the Wembley final next month. Madrid, who beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Saturday night for a ninth straight win over their neighbours, are 5.6 to pull of an incredible shock and qualify at the expense of Dortmund, 1.21, with the 3-0 win that would be good enough to get them through on away goals a 15.5 price.

Madrid president Florentino Perez has made it known that Carlo Ancelotti, currently Paris-Saint Germain boss, is his preferred candidate to replace Mourinho and the popular Italian told the French press this week that he would reveal his plans at the end of the season. Ancelotti's PSG as good as clinched the Ligue 1 title with a bad-tempered 1-0 win at Evian on Sunday night. The game will be remembered for the red cards shown to Marco Verratti, which drew a furious response from Ancelotti on the bench, and also David Beckham, on as a sub and shown a straight red late on. Salvatore Sirigu and Evian's Saber Khlifa were dismissed after the final whistle following an ugly brawl.

The win puts PSG nine points clear with four games left to play - though the more exciting race is for third spot between Lyon and Saint-Etienne, who drew 1-1, and Lille, who let slip a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Sochaux. Lyon are 1.42 to finish third and Saint-Etienne, one point back, 3.05; Lille, two more points back, are 4.2.

PSG need four points to clinch the title, but will be almost certain of it next week if they beat Valenciennes, and that is relevant when it comes to their search for a possible new coach. The lack of support from within for Ancelotti turned around after PSG nearly beat Barcelona in the Champions League, going out only on away goals, and the knowledge that Real Madrid are pushing hard for the Italian has encouraged PSG's bosses to offer him a two-year extension and salary increase. But Ancelotti was said to be disappointed by the owners' reactions to PSG's penalty shoot-out defeat in the French Cup, also to Evian, a few weeks ago.

That leaves PSG looking for a new coach and their number one target, according to Le Parisien, is Arsene Wenger. Wenger said after Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Manchester United that he plans to see out the remaining year on his Gunners contract; the French paper suggested that if PSG really want Wenger, whose relationship with president Nasser Al-Khelaifa goes back to 2006 when he started working as a pundit for Al-Jazeera, they would appoint sporting director Leonardo as coach for a year and welcome Wenger in 2014.

Le Parisien also mentions Manuel Pellegrini and, intriguingly, Eric Gerets, ex-Marseille coach, as potential candidates as well; the fact that on Sunday, Al-Khelaifa met super-agent Jorge Mendes, was more to do with his clients Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo and Radamel Falcao as opposed to Mourinho.

This is Mourinho's third Champions League semi-final in as many seasons with Real Madrid; once again, it looks like he will fall short in reaching the final. But this time, what he does next could trigger off a managerial merry-go-round across Europe.