Schalke 04 2011

Coach: Ralf Rangnick

Schalke 04 produced a surprise run to the 2010-11 Champions League semi-final under coach Ralf Rangnick, eliminating both Valencia and Internazionale — the reigning treble-winning champions at the time — along the way, before being eliminated by Manchester United in the final four. Raúl, the Real Madrid legend who had joined Schalke that summer in the twilight of his career, provided experienced leadership and crucial goals throughout the run, while a young Julian Draxler was beginning to emerge as one of German football's most exciting talents. Rangnick, a coach later credited as one of the intellectual godfathers of the high-press, data-driven approach that came to dominate German and wider European football over the following decade, built a well-organised and tactically disciplined side that overachieved relative to its transfer budget throughout the campaign. The semi-final defeat to United ended the run, but reaching that stage remains one of the standout European achievements in Schalke's modern history, a Bundesliga club that has otherwise found sustained continental success difficult to achieve on a consistent basis.