It was when Ralf Rangnick came up against Manchester United in a Champions League semi-final for Schalke 10 years ago that he revealed his sensitivity about the tag he has carried around during a 38-year career in management.
On the eve of that first leg in Gelsenkirchen he was reminded of his nickname ‘The Professor’, which he had borne since the day he went on national TV in 1998 with a whiteboard to introduce the German nation to the notion of ‘pressing’ and the flat back four.
The reminder rankled with him. He said it was demeaning.