Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti looked relaxed as usual as he spoke to the press ahead of his side’s La Liga match at home to Deportivo Alaves on Tuesday.
“I’ve been lucky enough to coach 300 games at the best club in the world,” Ancelotti said. “It’s something special to sit on this bench. To sit on it 300 times… I’m not saying it’s a miracle, but it’s close to a miracle.”
Reaching this milestone is a remarkable feat for any big European club, but it is even more impressive at Real Madrid given President Florentino Perez’s history of hiring and firing coaches. Only one manager has managed more games at Madrid: Miguel Muñoz, who took charge of 605 games between 1959 and 1974.
It also helped that Ancelotti has won the Champions League during his two spells in charge of Madrid (2013-15, returning in 2021), first in 2014 and again in 2022 and 2024. But winning trophies alone is often not enough to guarantee job security at the Bernabeu.
Just 12 months after Madrid lifted their long-awaited 10th European Cup in 2014, Ancelotti was sacked by Perez after serious problems arose in their relationship. His second spell in charge also had its share of turbulent moments. He also won two more Champions League titles.
Surviving and thriving in what is arguably the toughest environment in football is, as Ancelotti himself admitted this week, nothing short of a miracle.
So how did he do it?
Ancelotti has been a manager for almost 30 years (he started his career with Italian club Reggiana in 1995). He has gained a lot of experience working for big names who are used to giving orders and following them quickly.
At AC Milan (2001-2009), Silvio Berlusconi was the club’s owner, and during Ancelotti’s tenure, he was also the autocratic Italian prime minister. At Chelsea (2009-2011), his ultimate boss was the secretive Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. At Paris Saint-Germain (2011-2013), the chairman was Nasser al-Khelaifi, a close associate of the Qatari ruling party.
While playing in Madrid, his bosses included Bayern Munich’s confident chairman Uli Hoeness (Ancelotti was president in 2016-17), Napoli’s powerful chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis (2018-19) and Everton’s biggest shareholder Farhad Moshiri (2019-2021).
Ancelotti’s 2016 book, Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts, Minds and Games, includes a whole section on “top management”, discussing his experiences dealing with flashy and powerful bosses.
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The article, co-written with former Chelsea manager Mike Ford and management consultant Chris Brady, was published after the Italian was sacked by Madrid in June 2015 and before he joined Bayern the following summer.
Ancelotti wrote that it soon became clear that a certain reality had to be accepted in Milan. “With Berlusconi I realised very quickly that my job was to please Berlusconi because he was the owner of Milan.”
Ancelotti and Silvio Berlusconi, pictured in January 2006 (Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images)
Abramovich, who joined Chelsea, instructed him to play a possession-based style of football. To do this, Ancelotti called on playmaker Andrea Pirlo, but when that was not possible, he used Michael Essien in that role. This book does not complain, but readers will find that these two players are very different types.
Ancelotti was fine with not getting everything he wanted in the transfer market, but what was more troubling was that whenever Chelsea lost a game, Abramovich would come to him and demand answers in person.
“(It) taught me how to deal with a different kind of president,” Ancelotti wrote in his book. “I decided not to fight attack with attack. That’s not my style. I like to think through difficult times and solve problems calmly and rationally.”
Ancelotti decided to use the owner’s intervention to motivate the team, and the team won the Premier League and the FA Cup in his first season in charge. He wrote that the players knew Abramovich was moving “for me” and “responded brilliantly”.
That approach proved difficult to achieve in the long term, and Abramovich sacked Ancelotti after an unbeaten season. He then joined PSG, where his sporting director was Leonardo, “a friend I met in Milan”.
Within 12 months, it was clear that things were not going well. After PSG lost to Ligue 1 rivals Nice in December 2012, Leonardo said he would be sacked if they failed to beat Porto in the next game. Ancelotti realised that Al-Khelaifi had decided that the ‘project’ was not working and informed his boss that he would leave at the end of the season.
The next stop was the Bernabeu, where Ancelotti quickly learned that he had to focus solely on coaching the first team and not worry about anything outside his control. He wrote in his book about realizing at Real Madrid that “you are always part of a project.” He said accepting that gave the players the freedom to focus on giving their best.
After three seasons of predecessor Jose Mourinho’s pragmatic approach, Perez wanted a more attractive style of football at Madrid. When Ancelotti got to work, he gave more responsibility to his senior players Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric. He also devised new roles for Gareth Bale and Angel Di Maria within a 4-3-3 tactical shape. It provided ‘La Decima’ in his first season.
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The power of the relationships Ancelotti has built was on display when Ronaldo guest-wrote Quiet Leadership.
“One of the reasons why the atmosphere was good was because Carlo protected the dressing room from anything that could upset the balance between the president and the family,” Ronaldo wrote. “I saw that he did not give in to pressure from anyone. He made his own decisions.”
Ancelotti and Ronaldo celebrate reaching the 2014 Champions League final (Stuart Franklin – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
But not everything was perfect. Quiet Leadership also reported that Perez told Ancelotti that Bale’s agent wanted his client to play more centrally on the pitch. The Italian spoke directly to the player, explaining the team’s composition and his important role in it. He also told the agent to “shut up” during a press conference. Ancelotti wrote that this changed his relationship with Perez.
When Madrid lost a few games in early 2015, the club hierarchy became concerned after reports suggested that Madrid’s training sessions were not intense enough. Ancelotti felt the squad needed more rest, especially with key players Ramos and Modric suffering injuries. The issue was never resolved, and the sacking came after the season ended without a major trophy.
Ancelotti wrote that his time at Madrid was “shorter than I had hoped, but longer than many who have had success there”.
“Leadership can sometimes involve compromise, especially at the biggest clubs, but not when there is professionalism and confidence in decisions,” he added.
Ancelotti, who returned to Madrid in the summer of 2021, was well aware of the issues that initially caused friction. He accepted without complaint the club’s addition of fitness coach Antonio Pintus to the staff, and frequently reiterated that energy and physicality are essential to success in today’s game.
But he also insisted on bringing in his son Davide, then 34, as his assistant coach, which raised eyebrows at the Bernabeu, with No. 2 a former club legend who was often in the president’s ear. Ancelotti often says in his book that his closest staff are like family. That was literally true.
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Ancelotti also knew that the president would continue to have the final say on transfer policy. That meant applying the tactics to the current squad. The team sat deeper, meaning veteran midfielders Toni Kroos and Modric had less to run around and Vinicius Junior had more space to exploit. The balance came from right-wing midfielder Federico Valverde, who paid off when he set up Vinicius Junior’s winning goal in the 2021-22 Champions League final against Liverpool.
Ancelotti is surrounded by the crowd after Madrid’s victory in the 2022 Champions League final (Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
When Karim Benzema left for Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2023, Ancelotti wanted England captain Harry Kane as a direct replacement. Perez did not pursue that option seriously, so instead created a new attacking role for Jude Bellingham. Bellingham scored 23 goals as Madrid won the La Liga and Champions League double last season.
Such success was by no means inevitable. In May 2023, Madrid were crushed 4-0 by Pep Guardiola’s City in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, while Xavi’s Barcelona won the La Liga title with ease. It was a similarly difficult period to that which ended Ancelotti’s first term at the Bernabeu.
Ancelotti had an easy escape route. Brazil wanted him as their next national team manager. His first choice was always to stay in the Spanish capital, but speculation continued until the 2023-24 season, with Ancelotti’s contract set to expire in June 2025.
It was an awkward situation for Perez, who was not used to having such a strong negotiating position with any manager. The Bernabeu hierarchy considered other options, including Bayer Leverkusen manager Alonso. Meanwhile, Ancelotti’s side went 17 games unbeaten, winning 14 and drawing three, including a 2-1 Clasico win at Barcelona, putting them in the top flight of the La Liga title race. In late December, he was offered an extension until 2026, which he accepted.
“I can’t control the direction of the president. I just want to influence him, and the best way to do that is to win,” Ancelotti wrote in his 2016 book.
There was another awkward moment last month, when Ancelotti wanted Madrid to hire Andy Mangan, a 38-year-old Stockport County coach who was close to Davide. Not everyone at the Bernabeu liked the idea, and the Spanish authorities eventually refused Mangan a work permit.
There is a feeling of simmering anticipation around the Bernabeu that Madrid have not started the new season well, with departed playmaker Kroos being sorely missed. Last week’s Champions League group game at the Bernabeu saw Stuttgart have more possession (54% to Madrid’s 46%), sparking debate about the team’s style of play (despite Madrid winning 3-1).
Afterwards, Ancelotti faced tough questions from reporters who knew full well that Perez preferred his team to dominate the ball. and Play stylish attacking football.
“Maybe we could have done better, but Real Madrid fans are used to seeing ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ football, they don’t see much touch,” he replied coolly. “We try to make the fans happy with our characteristics. The fans like to win more than to do well. The ideal is to win and do well.”
Ancelotti with Real Madrid players during pre-season in August (Victor Carretero/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
It was typical Ancelotti. He pointed out that the midfield and attack in particular were made up of players suited to “fun, direct, intense, fast” football. The underlying message was that he was making the best out of the available players, and everyone knew that he was not primarily responsible for putting together the squad. Everything was conveyed calmly, showing that he was in control and that no one had to worry.
Not all top managers react this way to criticism or interference from above. Some people’s egos get in the way. But at this stage in his career and life, the 65-year-old Ancelotti has enough self-confidence not to react to what others might take personally. His experience dealing with different owners and bosses has taught him to be philosophical.
“I’ve learned that being fired, or recruiting for that matter, is rarely about you,” Ancelotti wrote in Quiet Leadership. “It’s always about the person who hires or fires you. Do your job to the best of your ability and let others judge you, because they will anyway.”
He put it differently in other parts of the book.
“As Vito Corleone said in one of my favorite movies, The Godfather,, “It’s nothing personal. It’s just business.”
(Photo above: Angel Martinez – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
