Great leaders gather in Lovech

Greater feats
PFC Litex Lovech's Ljupko Petrović and AZ Alkmaar's Louis van Gaal may feel reasonably confident of leading their teams to the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup, having yet to lose a game in Group D, but both men have achieved even greater feats in their long careers.

European triumphs
As coach of FK Crvena Zvezda in his native Serbia and Montenegro, Petrović won the European Cup in 1990/91, while Van Gaal oversaw one of the greatest eras in AFC Ajax's history between 1991 and 1997, landing Europe's top club prize in Vienna in 1994/95 with victory against AC Milan.

Petrović expects
"I am expecting a very tough and close game," Petrović told uefa.com. "I watched AZ's last match against Middlesbrough [FC]. They had the better of things and missed several good chances. For me, they are the best team in the group. They play the football in the right way."

Van Gaal wary
Of his illustrious adversary, the Litex coach added: "He is doing very well, but I cannot say I am worried about big names as everything depends on the players." Van Gaal echoed his opposite number's comments, telling uefa.com: "Managers can influence games before kick-off, but once the referee blows the whistle, it is up to the players."

Smaller competitions
While encounters between coaches who have won major competitions are common in the UEFA Champions League, in the smaller club tournaments it is rare to find two similarly successful trainers on a collision course, although there have been occasional meetings in the past decades.

De Mos success
In the second round of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1989/90, the tie between RSC Anderlecht and FC Barcelona brought together Aad De Mos and Johan Cruyff. The former had claimed the Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup with KV Mechelen, while Cruyff had lifted the Cup Winnners' Cup with Ajax and would eventually top that, winning the 1991/92 European Cup with Barça. Anderlecht prevailed 3-2 on aggregate.

Bianchi on top
Meanwhile, the 1990/91 UEFA Cup saw AS Roma's Ottavio Bianchi - triumphant in that tournament's 1988/89 edition with SSC Napoli - tackle two fellow UEFA competition winners. His side overcame an SL Benfica team guided by Sven-Göran Eriksson - a UEFA Cup winner with IFK Göteborg in 1981/82 and Cup Winners' Cup winner with S.S. Lazio in 1998/99 - in the first round, edging both legs 1-0.

Trapattoni triumphant
However, Bianchi's second head-to-head with another European winner was to be less well-starred as that season's final pitted Roma against an FC Internazionale Milano side coached by Giovanni Trapattoni, whose honours with the Bianconeri included the 1976/77 UEFA Cup, the 1983/84 Cup Winners' Cup and a European Cup/Super Cup double in 1984/85.

Further wins
Trapattoni duly added a second UEFA Cup to his haul with a 2-1 aggregate success against Bianchi's men, and would win the same competition with Juventus in 1992/93.