Manager who played against Pele and coached versus Maradona and Messi retires

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One of football's most decorated managers, Mircea Lucescu, has retired at the age of 78.

The Romanian, who spent the bulk of his coaching career in Eastern Europe, is second only to Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of major honours won as a manager, with 38. He's also the only individual to have competed against Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona and Pele.

He had been managing Dynamo Kyiv since 2020, but announced he was stepping down on Friday following a 1-0 defeat to his former team Shakhtar Donetsk. Other clubs on his managerial CV include Inter Milan, Galatasaray, Zenit Saint Petersburg and Besiktas, though it was at Shakhtar where he experienced the majority of his success.

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In 12 years at the club Lucescu won eight Ukrainian top flight titles, 13 Ukrainian domestic cups, and the Europa League. He successfully broke Dynamo Kyiv's lengthy stranglehold on the division and in 2015 became just the fifth manager in history, after Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho, to coach 100 Champions League matches.

Lucescu has the honour of being the only man to have managed against team featuring both Messi and Maradona. He faced Messi in the Champions League during stints at both Shakhtar and Dynamo Kyiv while his Pisa side faced Maradona's Napoli during the 1990/91 season.

As if competing with two GOAT contenders wasn't enough, Lucescu also faced Pele as a player. He lined up against the Brazilian legend during Romania's 3-2 defeat to the Selecao at the 1970 World Cup.

Lucescu is one of the most successful footballers in Romanian history. He earned 70 caps for his country, 23 of which came as captain and is also a seven-time winner of Divizia A, Romania's top flight league. The former forward spent 13 years at Dinamo Bucuresti and five at Corvinul Hunedoara – both of whom he later managed – before hanging up his boots in 1982.

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He got his big break as a manager in Italy, initially with Pisa and later with Brescia before moving on to Inter Milan in 1998. However, he only lasted a few months at the San Siro despite leading the club to the Champions League semis. A run of poor domestic form and a falling out with superstar striker Ronaldo saw him resign from his post two months before the end of the 1998/99 season.

Lucescu then moved on to Galatasaray and then to Besiktas, winning the Turkish Super Lig with both clubs, before joining Shakhtar in 2004. His trophy-laden 12-year stint there cemented his legacy as the Ukrainian club's greatest ever manager, though his reputation came back to bite him when he arrived at Dynamo Kyiv in 2020.

The club's fans protested the appointed due to his history with Shakhtar and Lucescu attempted to resign just days into the job. He was eventually persuaded to change his mind, and a few weeks later he became the Champions League's oldest manager, aged 75, after taking charge of a game against Juventus. At 78, he retired as the world's oldest active football manager.

• Lionel Messi
• Diego Maradona
• Pele
• Champions League
• Inter Milan FC
• Galatasaray FC
• Dynamo Kiev FC

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