Carlo Ancelotti, the great genius or the lucky one?

Last summer, Real Madrid fell into a precarious situation following the departures of Zinedine Zidane and captain Sergio Ramos. They are a collection of stars in the twilight period and many young talents at the dawn of their careers. The financial situation is also very bad, not allowing Los Blancos to make big contracts.

So appointing Carlo Ancelotti looks like a great decision. The experience, composure and resourcefulness of the Italian strategist will help restore order, bring peace in the dressing room and bring the team out of the whirlpool.

Actually not. President Florentino Perez has not planned to reunite Ancelotti. Looking to Carletto simply means that Perez has no other choice. Some of the coaches that Perez likes are stuck at some club, while some can sign off immediately that are not suitable.

Florentino Perez did not plan a reunion with Ancelotti. (Image: Getty Images)

Either way, it didn’t matter to Perez. A senior source at Real told The Athletic: “Perez considers the coach position secondary. The Real president always thinks that he knows more than any coach. So there is no criteria for recruitment. Real Madrid sign the people they can.”

That’s why Ancelotti returned to the Bernabeu. At least this will help Perez skip the initial introduction. In 2013, the first time Carletto was appointed, the Real President led the new coach to the traditional room, where 9 C1 / Champions League trophies were displayed. Looking at his image reflected in the shiny Cups, Ancelotti understood for himself what to do to deserve the great stature of the club, and at the same time was aware of the task of bringing here the 10th Cup, La Decima.

When Ancelotti started his second term, the level of expectations was significantly lower. Real is in a situation that does not allow many dreams, and Carletto is considered out of time.

Before being honored as the greatest coach in Europe, Ancelotti was once considered out of time. (Image: Getty Images)

Before returning to Real, Ancelotti spent 19 months at Napoli, 18 months at Everton. In these two middleweight teams, the win rates are 52.1 and 46.3% respectively, lower than any previous club he has led since 1999. In addition, the last title Carletto won was Bundesliga 2017 with Bayern.

Every coach has a cycle of success and if Ancelotti is at the end of the cycle, he probably has no regrets. At the start of his senior coaching career (in 1999), he was greeted with insults. Juventus fans protested the decision to appoint Carletto from the beginning and on his debut, they held up a banner: “A pig can’t be a coach”. “Pig” both refers to Ancelotti’s chubby appearance, and mocks his background as a farmer, from the famous Emilia-Romagna breeding and ham processing area.

“They are disrespecting pigs,” Ancelotti mocked with inherent humor. But that doesn’t mean he’s not sad. He said that Juventus is “a love story that never started”. “The president and general manager would stop by the dressing room, say hello to Del Piero and meet Zidane,” he said in his autobiography, “They always ignored me, and it happened dozens of times.”

Ancelotti is the first coach in history to win the top 5 European leagues. (Photo: FIFA)

Ancelotti has tried to blend in and be friendly with everyone, as he has done throughout his career, bringing the absolute love of the players, but failed to help Juventus to the championship. “We didn’t win titles, but we played well. And you’re a good person. That’s the most important thing in life, Carlo,” said president Gianni Agnelli.

Ancelotti believed so, until the next day, he was fired by Agnelli. It turns out that being a good person is not enough to survive in this complex industry. Need to win again. As Juventus legend Giampiero Boniperti said: “Winning is not the most important thing, because winning is the only thing that matters”.

Over the past two decades, Ancelotti has always been a good person. Journalist Salvatore Lo Presti said that Carletto exceeded the limit allowed by a coach. He was “too good, too close to the player”. Billionaire Chelsea billionaire Roman Abramovich hired him for “kindness to players and always behaved calmly”, but later fired him only because “too nice”. The day he lost his job at Real, both Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric and Marcelo all applied to the Board of Directors to keep the Italian coach. That failed, they switched to non-cooperation with replacement Rafa Benitez.

Ancelotti was the one who helped Real win La Decima, ushering in a brilliant new era in Europe. (Image: Getty Images)

But besides playing the good guy, Ancelotti is well versed in the art of winning. Leaving Juve, he won every trophy a manager could with Milan, from Serie A, Coppa Italia to the Champions League (twice) and the FIFA Club World Cup. At Chelsea, he won the Premier League and FA Cup double in his first season. So far, only Carletto’s team that year approached the beautiful football that Abramovich dreamed of.

Many people think that titles in Ligue 1 with PSG and Bundesliga with Bayern are a bit easy, because Ancelotti has led the two best teams in the two most uncompetitive leagues. It may be true, but he has proven himself good enough to win in extreme places. For example, Real, the most prestigious and cruel club.

In his first term, Ancelotti dispelled the toxic atmosphere of the Jose Mourinho era and freed Ronaldo, putting Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos in positions where they would shine. All helped Real win La Decima after many years of waiting. In his second term, he brought back his 14th European Cup in the traditional chamber of the Bernabeu after a journey of extraordinary wonder. The best teams (PSG, Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool) led by the best coaches of modern football (Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel, Pep Guardiola, Juergen Klopp) have all turned into bricks. road to glory.

With 4 championships, Ancelotti is the most successful coach in Champions League history. (Image: Getty Images)

There, Ancelotti made himself the greatest coach in C1/Champions League history with four championships. This is simply an emphasis, because not long before with the La Liga title, he was the first coach to win all five of the top five leagues in the Old Continent.

Ancelotti is not out of time, it’s just that he sometimes falls into a depression, which happens to every coach. For example, he arrived at Bayern at a time of transition, and the stars were incompatible with the new philosophy that had been so long part of Guardiola’s complex system. They did not support the Italian coach from the beginning.

Robert Lewandowski, Philipp Lahm and Arjen Robben each complained to the Board of Directors about the content of the training. Before Bayern made the decision to dismiss, the players conducted their own training without the Italian teacher. At Napoli, Ancelotti was caught up in a battle between players and president Aurelio De Laurentiis. At Everton, things are in the beginning stages.

Ancelotti became great through “kindness” and tactical flexibility. (Image: Getty Images)

What makes Ancelotti great and prolongs his success, besides “kindness”, is tactical flexibility. He knows how to take advantage of existing players, while keeping them happy with the system.

To this day, people still refer to the plan of Milan’s Christmas tree in the 2000s along with Andrea Pirlo’s great invention of the deep location of the construction. At Chelsea, Ancelotti switched to 4-3-3, or 4-2-3-1 after discussions with key players.

Arriving at Real in 2013, at the first meeting, Cristiano Ronaldo said that he would prefer to play on the left wing, then penetrate the middle. “Well, you have to be really comfortable, that’s the most important thing,” he said. Real switched flexibly between the two systems, 4-4-2 and 4-3-3, on the way to La Decima.

Now, Ancelotti is a record holder, a great genius. (Image: Getty Images)

Back at the Bernabeu, Ancelotti believes that 4-3-3 is still the system that brings success. With the midfield trio of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric and Karim Benzema in attack, it feels like the Real of 2014 but without Ronaldo. No problem, because Ancelotti is very good at motivating, inspiring and building the right relationships to bring out the best in his students.

The photo celebrates the La Liga championship, in which Carletto wears dark glasses, smokes a cigar and the players laugh and laugh. It was a precious moment. With such a teacher, it is not surprising that Benzema, Modric burned to the last drop of essence while Vinicius, Rodrygo matured tremendously. No obstacle, no challenge can stop them. And Real became European champions, for the 14th time.

“It’s unbelievable, now I’m a record holder,” Ancelotti said after the win in Paris. But on another occasion, he reminded all that “nothing is random in football”. Don’t talk about luck with Ancelotti. The only person lucky in Real’s feat is Perez. He didn’t think about Carletto until he had no other choice. And the Real President should fill the 14th Cup with champagne and drink it all to celebrate.