#17 Miguel Munoz
Miguel Munoz is the 3rd highest placed Spaniard on our list. When you’re one of the luminaries of Real Madrid, the biggest club in the world in terms of revenue generated and European trophies won, it goes without saying that you deserve to be here.
Munoz had a phenomenally successful career, first as a player, winning 3 European Cups and 4 La Liga titles in the mid-1950s before winning even more trophies as a manager.
The Spaniard has the distinction of scoring Madrid’s first-ever goal in the European Cup, a record that will be imprinted down the centuries and had a dizzyingly successful spell with the Blancos. Munoz played in midfield, sharing the dressing room with legends like Alfredo Di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas and Francisco Gento and was a part of Madrid’s most successful era.
His potential as a coach was all too clear to the club’s management, and he was asked to take charge of the reserve team almost immediately after he retired as a player. A year later, he found himself being appointed as head coach of the senior team.
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He would repay the President’s faith in spectacular style, guiding Madrid to another 2 European Cup triumphs in 1960 and 1966, as well as 9 La Liga titles in his 14-year spell. He would become the first man to win the European Cup both as a player and a manager.
“I have a big flower on my backside” Munoz had modestly said when asked about his staggering success. There’s no doubting he led some immensely talented teams but his nous was always equally pivotal.
The biggest proof of his influence is casting a look at what happened after Madrid’s loss to Inter Milan in the 1964 European Cup Final. Madrid’s tenets in Puskas and Di Stefano were clearly past their prime and painful decisions needed to be taken. Munoz wasn’t one to shy away from these realities and started building his Madrid team without the two. Munoz would seamlessly incorporate youth into his team, whilst keeping Gento as a pivotal part of team and Madrid would win the European Cup again, without Puskas and Di Stefano, just a couple of years later.
Munoz would later manage Granada, Las Palmas and Sevilla after his tenure at Madrid before he took up the reigns at the Spanish national team, an adventure that would only cement his reputation as one of the best managers of all time.
International management
Spain had been performing poorly in international tournaments at the time. They had been ousted in the group stage of the 1980 European Championships and even more disappointingly had been knocked out in the second round of the 1982 World Cup on home soil.
Like all great managers, Miguel Munoz would turn things around immediately, with a stellar Euro 1984 campaign. Spain would beat Denmark and West Germany on their way to the final, before ultimately falling to Michel Platini’s France side. Munoz had restored a lot of pride in the national team though, and a run to the Quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup was also seen as par with expectations. Injuries to key players during the tournament hadn’t helped, and Spain had gone down valiantly and rather devastatingly to Belgium in a match decided by penalties.
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His period in charge of Spain came to an underwhelming conclusion when Spain were knocked out in the group stages of the 1988 European Championships, but he had already given La Roja much to cherish for the future.
The famous Spanish newspaper ‘Marca’ created a Miguel Munoz trophy in 2005, awarded to the best managers in the top two divisions of Spanish football. Bernd Schuster and Unai Emery were the first two managers to win this prestigious award, and Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho,Manuel Pellegrini and Diego Simeone are some of the managers to have won the prestigious award since. It ensures the legend of the Madrid native lives on for many years to come.
Here is a video of the Real Madrid vs Eintracht Frankfurt match from the 1960 European Cup final which the La Liga side won.
