Carlo Ancelotti gave the last press conference of the year, after beating Sevilla on Sunday, with a smile on his lips and a phrase with which he conveyed his satisfaction: “We have made it to Christmas alive.” He was referring not so much to Real Madrid as to himself. Once again he had achieved it.
The coach (Reggiolo, 65 years old) felt elated. He had just become the coach with the most titles in Madrid’s history (15) on Wednesday in Doha by winning the Intercontinental against the Mexican Pachuca, surpassing the legendary Miguel Muñoz by one. His team had overtaken Barcelona in the standings (with whom they were 9 points behind after losing the classic on October 26 at the Bernabéu), they were going to eat their nougat in peace and were once again facing the future with optimism, each Mbappé is once again plugged in; Vinícus and Bellingham are at full capacity and after Christmas there are no injuries, except for the two long-term ones: Militão and Carvajal.
Questioned after the defeat in the classic, the Italian coach arrives at Christmas stronger than ever
Then someone asked Ancelotti if at any point during the season he feared for his position. The Italian looked his interlocutor in the eyes and explained his answer, calmly: “This is football. When things don’t go well, the coach is ultimately responsible, but thanks to the support of the players and the club, who have never shown me concern, but rather calm and support, I have never felt questioned.”
Ancelotti does not say it clearly but his greatest endorsement is the trust that Florentino Pérez has in him, who does and undoes as he pleases with his very personal style of managing the club.
Carlo Ancelotti ends his contract in June 2026 (he earns about eleven million gross per season) and maintains a very fluid relationship with the president despite a paradox. Florentino Pérez likes hard-handed coaches (Mourinho type) more than soft-handed ones, but it is with these that he has achieved the most triumphs (read: Zidane or Ancelotti).
The Italian knows that he is experiencing a golden period at the club, the second, completely unexpected since he was fired in a bad way at the end of the first and Florentino is not one of those who grant second chances. Signed in June 2013 to end Mourinho’s stormy period (plagued by external and internal conflicts), the Italian won the Champions League and the Cup in his first year but was fired after the second season in which he only won minor titles (Supercopa de Europe and Club World Cup) with the excuse of having the team poorly worked on physically.
Little did Ancelotti imagine that Madrid would get him back in 2021 after one of Zidane’s slamming doors.
The one from Reggiolo explained it like this a few days ago with his sarcastic humor, like an Italian peasant: “The days before my second arrival here (May 2021) I never thought I could return (the club was sounding out the market) and I made a call to José Ángel (José Ángel Sánchez, Florentino’s right-hand man) to see if there were any players from the Madrid youth team available for Everton (the club he was at after his time at Bayern and Naples). I threw it like that and they fell into the trap,” he said, laughing.
Since then, Madrid has won, among other titles, two Champions Leagues, two leagues and a Cup, and Ancelotti has known how to handle himself in a far from easy locker room where he has made very risky decisions, such as sitting Hazard (the club’s most expensive signing) or retire Bale. To his credit, his detractors may argue that he has been unable to redirect Vinícius, but even the worst of his critics grant him successes such as turning Bellingham into one of the best players in the world or carrying out Mbappé’s adaptation in an acceptable way.
Because another of the secrets of the good relationship between Florentino Pérez and Ancelotti is that he asks almost nothing of him. And almost nothing he asks for is granted. For example, Benzema left, he asked for Kane and they brought in Joselu. With an offer from the Canarinha on the table, Ancelotti is not thinking much about the future at the moment. With full enjoyment the present is worth it.
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