EPA Carlo Ancelotti
NOS Voetbal•gisteren, 22:15
Serene and calm. For example, coach Carlo Ancelotti is always hidden in the dug-out. As if he doesn’t care what happens on the field. His star football players will figure it out themselves.
He relaxes and grinds something on a piece of chewing gum. Neatly in suit. The gray hair neatly combed. One of the black bushy eyebrows slightly raised. You can hardly read anything from his look. No, the stress does not seem to have any effect on the Real Madrid coach.
But on Monday, during the press conference in the run-up to the quarter-final against Manchester City in the Champions League, Ancelotti admitted it. The record holder with four Champions League titles as a trainer to his name can also get quite nervous.
Real Madrid-Manchester City at NOS
The quarter-final match between Real Madrid and Manchester City can be followed on Tuesday in a live blog on NOS.nl and the NOS app. The kick-off is at 9 p.m.
“Those hours just before a match… I’m very nervous,” Ancelotti said. “Winning always feels like a relief. Then you feel a lot calmer those days afterward. But suffering, after losing, that’s part of it. It keeps you sharp. It works as fuel for me.”
Beyond Ferguson
It doesn’t matter that tomorrow will be his 200th game as a trainer in the Champions League. You never get used to coaching at the highest level.
His 199 games are a record that the 64-year-old Italian has held since last season. Then he surpassed Sir Alex Ferguson, who coached 190 matches in the billion-dollar ball. The famous Scottish manager did this for only one club: Manchester United.
Trainers with the most Champions League matches
Carlo Ancelotti 199 Sir Alex Ferguson 190 Arsène Wenger 178 Pep Guardiola 167 José Mourinho 145
Ancelotti, head coach since 1995, has trained no fewer than eight clubs in the Champions League. Successively: Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Napoli and Real Madrid. He became champion in five top countries. And he won the cup with the big ears four times: in 2003 and 2007 with AC Milan and in 2014 and 2022 with Real Madrid.
As a player, Ancelotti also won the European Cup twice. Together with Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard in Arrigo Sacchi’s AC Milan in the late eighties. Only a few have the privilege of winning the most important European cup tournament as a player and coach. Think of Johan Cruijff, Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola
The latter coach, Guardiola, is once again Ancelotti’s opponent in the quarter-finals tonight. They meet for the third year in a row. And the winner? He also eventually won the final last time.
AFPAncelotti congratulates Guardiola after last season’s semi-final, in which City were too strong for Real
In 2022, no one expected Real Madrid to come out on top. Like true escape artists, the Madrilenians successively defeated Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City. In fact, every round it looked like Ancelotti’s team would succumb. But every time it was Karim Benzema who saved them, with a total of 15 goals.
Last season, Manchester City came out on top. In the second match of the semi-final, Guardiola’s team left no stone unturned against Real, through beautiful combination football: 4-0.
Great, attractive match
“It will be very difficult,” Ancelotti says now. “Manchester City is one of the best teams in Europe at the moment. But if you want to win the Champions League, you also have to be able to beat City. It will be a great, attractive match, with incredible quality on both sides.”
AFPAncelotti at the press conference for his 200th CL match
What about his new star player, Jude Bellingham, top scorer of the Spanish league with 16 goals. “Bellingham is a great player who knows exactly when to get into the box. Physically he is very strong, he also helps us a lot in defense. And he creates a lot of space and opportunities for us.”
In short, it means that his players must show “personality and courage”, he says. “We have to control Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland. That will all have to be right if we want to be successful.”
Yes, with all those names on the field it is a lot of fun. But take a look down the line on Tuesday evening and there will be Ancelotti, huddled in the Bernabéu dug-out. Apparently calm. And then think for a moment: he too is really tense.
Guardiola: ‘It’s difficult to beat Real Madrid once, let alone twice’
