Carlo Ancelotti: The Calming Pole in Real Madrid’s Star Ensemble

Chewing gum at high frequency and subtly showing his displeasure by raising his left eyebrow: Coach Carlo Ancelotti is the dominating, calming pole in Real Madrid’s star ensemble.

It’s a scene from last year’s fantastic semi-final against Manchester City that shows just how exceptionally Carlo Ancelotti works as a coach: in extra time in the second leg he exchanged views with Toni Kroos and other players on the bench before making the next change accomplished. In the end, Real Madrid won 3-1 and made it through to the final, perhaps also because they kept their composure in the rush.

Calmness and communication are qualities that Ancelotti values ​​particularly highly in the coaching job. Like a strict but fair teacher, he stands on the sidelines, following the games without excessively cheering or scolding. He transmits a calmness to the players, which at best can lead to reactions like in the round of 16 against Liverpool at the end of February. Back then, his team at Anfield turned an early 0-2 into a 5-2, calmly and brilliantly.

“My first teacher for my job was my father,” Ancelotti said at an event at Liverpool University two years ago when he was still coaching Everton. “My father was never angry. He was always calm and understanding. He helped me a lot in my career as a player and coach,” said the Italian, looking back on his childhood in Reggio Emilia, where his parents produced milk and cheese on a farm.

The underestimated pragmatist

How big Ancelotti’s contribution to the success is, remains unclear. Much less clear than with other trainers who think louder and conduct more research, who switch and invent. He has won the Champions League four times as a coach, more times than any other coach. And yet the suspicion is: Ancelotti simply had the right players at hand in his most successful times. At the moment it’s Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, David Alaba or Vinicius Junior.

Ancelotti gets the best out of the players at his disposal. He gives them confidence and puts them in a system that suits them. In this he differs significantly from Pep Guardiola, who sits opposite him in the Manchester City dugout on Tuesday evening. While the Spaniard is committed to his ideals, Ancelotti is thinking on a case-by-case basis. His pragmatism works well against Guardiola: when both teams were of similar strength, the Italian often won.

Champion in five countries

As a player, Ancelotti was a midfield conductor who celebrated the greatest successes at Milan under Arrigo Sacchi and with teammates such as Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit. He then transitioned seamlessly from playing to coaching. In 1994 he was the assistant to national coach Sacchi when Italy advanced to the final of the World Cup in the USA. He then worked his way up the European coaching hierarchy: Reggiana, Parma, Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton and Real Madrid again.

Ancelotti was not happy everywhere. In Turin, the Milan icon was never made friends, in Munich he was quickly perceived as not being consistent and strict enough as Guardiola’s successor. And also in Naples and at Everton there was no great success. Nevertheless, he was the only coach to win at least one championship in all five top European leagues. He is also fondly remembered by many former players, including those who are considered difficult like Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Cristiano Ronaldo.

Brazil national coach soon?

Ancelotti often finds the right words in just a few sentences in five languages. The former Bayern player Philipp Lahm once said, looking back on the times under Ancelotti and Guardiola: “What Ancelotti said in a week, Guardiola said in an hour.” The Italian likes to talk about things other than football. The 63-year-old, who is married to a Canadian in his second marriage, tells with charm how he came to appear in the film “Star Trek Beyond”, several decades after he appeared in “Keiner haut wie Don Camillo” alongside Terence Hill and Bud Spencer stood in front of the camera for the first time.

At the moment he doesn’t know what Ancelotti’s future looks like either. He just won the cup with Real Madrid and is on course for the Champions League. The championship, on the other hand, is lost against Barcelona. In the background, the Brazilian FA are trying to hire Ancelotti in their search for a national coach, while Real Madrid are reported to have knocked on the door of Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso. Despite the contract in Madrid until 2024, it is quite possible that Ancelotti will soon give Brazil what he has in abundance and what the South Americans recently lacked: calm and sovereignty.

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