What the coaches' clothes tell us in the Champions League How one presents oneself for the most elegant evenings in European football

Given the domestic quality of Arsenal this season garnering the majority of positive media attention you could be forgiven for forgetting that Manchester City are cruising on a relatively silent substrate. However, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne regularly remind us of City’s devastating quality just enough for their presence to be constantly felt; their 7-0 demolition of RB Leipzig sheens The Citizens credentials as Champions League favourites once again. 

Whilst goals aplenty were on display at The Etihad, Inter Milan took the spirit of the mid-90s to the Estádio do Dragão drawing out a much-desired 0-0 result placing Internazionale into the Quarter Finals for the first time since 2011. Napoli continued their effortless form finishing 3-0 winners on the night over Frankfurt thanks to the brilliance of Victor Osimhen, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Piotr Zieliński. Europe’s dark horses are now perhaps no longer to be considered applicable for that moniker given their unmistakable quality this season. 

The infinitely stylish Don Carlo Ancelotti and his Real Madrid side continue their imperious Champions League Knock-Out form with a 1-0 win over six-time European Champions Liverpool thanks to an easy finish from the seemingly timeless Karim Benzema. With a collection of play styles available for spectators, we continue our theme of analysing the sideline sartorial choices of Champions League managers in the hopes of drawing links between their personal style, and the way in which their sides play. 

Pep Guardiola 

Roger Schmidt carries with him the air of a manager most capable of guiding the death star, an unstoppable force led by an intelligent, perceptive, and tactically exquisite individual. His Benfica side are an inevitable domestic force sitting in their usual place at the top of the league, yet this season they are running Napoli close for the dark horse title, playing a cuttingly direct brand of football that saw As Águias place seven goals past Club Brugge over a two-legged affair. 

Dressed almost entirely in black, Roger Schmidt presented a figure of calculation, a tactile man wielding a devastating European force. His Benfica side are harmonising excellently throughout this season’s Champions League and look likely to trouble any side unfortunate enough to draw them in the Quarter Finals. Sartorially prudent, his Benfica side rose to the occasion. Their understated quality is perhaps not so understated anymore.