As Paris prepares to host the final of the European Cup, the quadruple is still alive, but only if Carlo Ancelotti is able to win a fourth European Cup. The Real Madrid coach can become the first to win four European Cups as a manager if the LaLiga champions beat the Reds on Saturday.
There is no sense of personal legacy for the 62-year-old Italian manager who won two European Cups as a member of the AC Milan side in 1989 and 1990.
Chris Brady, a professor who co-authored Quiet Leadership, said that he couldn't care less about the record books. Carlo believes that only one thing matters. When I ask him what his job is, he simply says to keep the president happy, and he has done that with Florentino Perez at Real, with Silvio Berlusconi at Milan and Roman Abramovich at Chelsea.
It never has been about Carlo.
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The same applies in Paris this weekend. Despite being on the verge of becoming the first to win it four times, this coach has won more European Cups than any other coach.
Carlo Ancelotti is a star 😂 pic.twitter.com/n2zweJwtpc
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Despite his stellar record, there has always been something downplayed about him. Every trophy won or lost is viewed through the lens of the coach's own personal success or failure. In the meantime, he wins a trophy, shrugs his shoulders and leaves it to the players and the president to take the credit, although he did celebrate Real's LaLiga title this season by smoking a cigar on the team bus.
I don't smoke cigars, but I did take a photo with my friends.
The relationship with his players is what defines his approach. The Russian owner believed that he was not tough enough with his squad and too collegiate with his players, which is why he fired him less than a year after leading the team to a double.
Brady said that he always sides with his players. Even if it costs him his job, he will still side with them.
For many who have played for him, his willingness to consult his players and discuss tactics and training methods is what sets him apart and enables him to deliver success at the highest level. Are we doing too much? I want to get the right balance, and I have never had a manager that asked the players.
He made you feel that the togetherness was incredible, and we went on to win some big things.
As Real battled to eliminate City in the Santiago Bernabeu during their incredible semifinal second leg earlier this month, Ancelotti once again turned to his senior players to find a way.
The coach had doubts about who he would bring on and who he wouldn't bring on. You can exchange ideas. That describes him well, and why things work well with the team. It is outstanding. He decides in the end, but he is interested in our opinion.
The secret to his success is that he is a manager of men, according to a source close to him. His big successes have been with teams with experienced players, not emerging youngsters. Carlo Ancelotti has once again inspired a team of older players into feats that are beyond them, with the 34 year old Benzema enjoying the best season of his career at Real.
Carlo played with his back to goal in the No. 9 role, so he always knew that Benzema was really the pivot.
Carlo knows how to get the best out of players. Even though Carlo wanted to play Bale as a No. 9 at Real, he was outstanding in the two seasons he was there. Carlo thought it was pointless to argue with a player who can score so many goals.
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They are an opponent that has delivered joy and pain in the same way over the years, and they are the team standing between Ancelotti and his personal quadruple. Two years earlier, he was on the wrong side of the so-called "Miracle of Istanbul" when he was a coach, as he was on the wrong side of a three- goal deficit.
It was not a defeat that caused him sleepless nights.
Brady said thatCarlo still says that the first half in Istanbul is the best performance of any team that he has coached. He couldn't change things quickly enough when they played so well.
When it went to penalties, he wanted her to take the first one. Carlo agreed to take the fifth because Shevchenko wanted it. Why? It's the same reason as lettingRonaldo play off the wing, why argue with one of the best players in the world?
After almost 30 years as a coach, Carlo Ancelotti will not change his approach to management. Real are chasing a record-extending 14th title, whileLiverpool are trying to win their seventh.
He knows how to win against one of the best teams of the era, as he was the first manager to win against one of the best teams of the century when he guided the team to a 2-0 win against their neighbours in February 2021. The past will not count when Saturday arrives. The players will be sent out and left to get on with the job.
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