We discuss the Italian’s stay at Chelsea with the manager he had the most trouble with
Carlo Ancelotti He has one of the most successful careers in football history. As a player he triumphed in Milan and as a coach he won wherever he was. He is the only coach to have won the League in France, England, Spain, Germany and Italy and won the Champions League four times from the bench, twice with Milan and twice with Real Madrid.
The Italian’s good work has led him to work in the best teams in Europe, but of course those teams demand a higher level than the rest and their owners are much more demanding. Ancelotti has even worked with some of the most difficult: Silvio Berlusconi, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, Florentino Pérez, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and especially Roman Abramovich.
The Russian tycoon is by far the one with the worst memory of the transalpine. “It has without a doubt been the one that has endured the worst”, emphasizes his environment. Ancelotti himself, in his book “Silent Leadership”, talks about his experience with the former president of Chelsea. “The relationship with the owner was not good. To break off a relationship, it is enough to add small details. There was the resignation and replacement of Ray Wilkins, and Abramovich also began to say that I favored certain players; maybe he believed the rumors about my favoritism. I told him it wasn’t true, I made it very clear. Maybe that favoritism was an excuse. I think Abramovich’s main reason for kicking me out was because from his point of view I was not running the team well.”.
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Ancelotti also mentions in his book that the reason why he is later hired is usually the reason or excuse why he is fired. “They hire me to be nice and calm to the players, but as soon as there is dissatisfaction, it is very bad for them to say that the problem is there. If I win, it’s because I’m a quiet boy; In the same way, if I lose, it’s also because I’m a quiet guy. How is it explained? It’s a paradox, but he caught me at Chelsea.”
In addition, the Italian warned that during his time in the England team, the fact that both the executive director (Peter Kenyon) and the sports director (Frank Arnesen) made things much more complicated, as Abramovich appeared unexpectedly to ask for an explanation. abruptly if you don’t like something. “I tried to listen and not react impulsively, but maybe I should have been prepared and had some explanations to hand. This relationship with an owner was new to me; even Berlusconi had not been so demanding”.
Learning English in a monastery in the Netherlands
In fact, the relationship with Roman Abramovich was complicated since he signed with Chelsea. In the summer of 2008, the English team Ancelotti already tried to sign him, but the Russian did not like that the Italian coach did not master English well and finally decided to sign Luiz Felipe Scolari. However, the Brazilian was sacked in early 2009 and once again Ancelotti was on Chelsea’s radar. The Italian, because of his pride, spent a whole week in a monastery in the Netherlands, founded at the beginning of the 20th century by the French congregation of the canon sisters of Lunéville, the Eikenheuvel estate, located in the small town of Vught, near Eindhoven . . “We were from eight in the morning to eight at night. If language had been an inconvenience last time, he was determined not to be now.; I like to say that I am a good student and have studied conscientiously”.
The appearance of Mariann
Carletto’s start in London was not easy, despite the fact that his start in terms of results was very good (14 wins in the first 16 games). But everything changed when he met Mariann. The one who is now his wife has made her stay in London so pleasant that they maintain a house in the English capital, which is managed by Ancelotti’s stepdaughter. “you will be my betrothed one day”Ancelotti told the Canadian businesswoman in the London restaurant where they met. Said and done. In particular, in 2014, after conquering La Decima with Real Madrid, the happy couple got married in Vancouver.
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A special bond with Lampard and the veterans
Ancelotti was told he would not be continuing as Chelsea manager when the team were defeated in the final game of the Italian’s second season in the ‘blue’ team against Everton. That night, when the team returned to London, the veterans of the team, Lampard, Drogba, Terry… took the Italian out for dinner and drinks. “It was the first time this happened to me in my professional life, I think they liked it,” Ancelotti acknowledged.
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This yes, the decision of his discontinuation seemed to have been made months earlier. When Chelsea fell to Manchester United in the quarter-final of the Champions League, Abramovich had joked with Carlo the day before. “If you lose tomorrow, don’t come back to work”. Carlo returned, but that “joke” became reality months later.
Alex Ferguson He commented in Ancelotti’s book what happened that night. “After the game he came to my dressing room at Old Trafford. When he sat down, I realized something was wrong. I thought maybe it was a family accident, but it was about Abramovich.. When Carlo returned to the locker room, Abramovich was waiting for him as they had lost. He told her in no uncertain terms what the consequences would be. Carlo was really touched. Looking back now, I think Carlo did well to care. Abramovich was determined. Carlo had taken Fernando Torres off to replace Didier Drogba, who immediately scored. In the end, we won the game 2-1 and eliminated them 3-1 on aggregate. Abramovich had paid £50 million for Torres. A total waste, but since he had paid all that money they would have lost and on top of that Carlo had replaced Torres, I think Abramovich had already decided Carlo’s fate.”
Now, twelve years later, Ancelotti faces Frank Lampard, who was his player at Chelsea and is now a friend. With the, Lampard reached his highest level as a footballer in a stage where the Chelsea midfielder was always compared to Liverpool star Steven Gerrard. Both became the best English midfielders of those years, but for Carlo, Lampard was always the best.
Source: Goal