Jose Mourinho has been on the ropes at times this season as Real Madrid's La Liga title defence stumbled but the Portuguese coach delivered knockout blows to heavyweight opponents this week that kept the Spanish club's hopes of silverware very much alive.
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Real have upped their game at exactly the right moment and Tuesday's 2-1 comeback victory at 10- man Manchester United sent them through to the last eight of the Champions League 3-2 on aggregate and put them a step closer to a 10th European crown.
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Success at Old Trafford came hard on the heels of last Tuesday's 4-2 aggregate victory against Barcelona in the semifinals of the King's Cup and Real followed that up with a 2-1 win at home to their arch rivals in La Liga on Saturday.
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"Three victories, what a week!" Real's Germany playmaker Mesut Ozil wrote on his Twitter feed.
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Real are 13 points behind leaders Barca in third in La Liga and have written off their chances of closing the gap over the remaining 12 matches, leaving Europe's elite club competition as the overwhelming priority.
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Winning a third Champions League with a third different club is a personal obsession for Mourinho and it is widely thought that if Real lift the trophy at Wembley in May he will feel his job in Madrid is done and move on.
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The 50-year-old former Chelsea manager left Inter Milan to join Real in 2010 after leading the Italian club to their first European crown in 45 years. He also won the competition with Porto in 2004.
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Mourinho certainly rode his luck against United as Real were trailing 2-1 on aggregate until Nani's harsh dismissal in the 56 minute transformed the game.
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He immediately sent on Luka Modric and the Croatia midfielder cracked in the equaliser seven minutes after replacing fullback Alvaro Arbeloa.