Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti was born in Reggiolo (Reggio-Emilia) on June 10, 1959.

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He started his football with local side Reggiolo and then at 16 moved to the Parma youth sector.

He made his professional debut for Parma in the 1976-77 season. He stayed three seasons, all in Serie C, playing 63 games and scoring 15 goals. In his last season he helped the Gialloblu win promotion to Serie B with a brace in the final play-off against Triestina.

In 1979 he signed for Roma. He stayed eight seasons with the Giallorossi, winning a Scudetto in 1983 and the Coppa Italia four times. In 1984 Roma also reached the European Cup final in Rome but lost on penalties to Liverpool after a 1-1 draw. Ancelotti played 227 games for Roma with 17 goals. In 1981-82 he played very little due to a serious knee injury which also made him miss the 1982 World Cup. His main managers were both Swedish, Nils Liedholm (1979-84) and Sven-Goran Eriksson (1984-87).

In 1987 Ancelotti joined Milan. Ancelotti stayed for five glorious seasons. The manager was Arrigo Sacchi for four and Fabio Capello in the last. The Rossoneri won the Scudetto twice, the European Cup twice, the UEFA Super Cup twice, the Intercontinental Cup twice and the Italian Supercoppa. These were the years of the great Milan with players such as Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Roberto Donadoni, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten just to name a few. Ancelotti played 160 games and scored 11 goals (including a cracking long-range goal against future club Real Madrid in a 5-0 thrashing).

He won 26 caps for Italy and scored 1 goal (Holland in the 1981 Mundialito). As mentioned he missed the 1982 triumph but took part in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups and the 1988 European Championship.

He retired at 33 but the best was yet to come.

He became a coach and started as assistant to Arrigo Sacchi with Italy from 1992 to 1995.

In 1995 he took over at Reggiana and won promotion to Serie A.

In 1996 he moved to Parma in Serie A. He stayed two seasons finishing 2nd and 6th. Parma had some great players; Gianluigi Buffon, Paolo Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, Tomas Brolin, Gianfranco Zola, Hernan Crespo, Alessandro Melli and Enrico Chiesa amongst others.

In February 1999 he was called up by Juventus to replace Marcello Lippi. He was not a popular choice with the fans due to his club allegiances in his playing days. He stayed two and a half seasons. In the first the Bianconeri finished 7th and reached the Champions League semi-final, in the second they finished 2nd (famously losing Scudetto to Lazio in the last game of the season) and then 2nd again (this time behind Roma).

Ancelotti then returned to Milan. In November 2001 he replaced Fatih Terim and stayed eight seasons. The Rossoneri won a Scudetto, the Champions League twice, the European Super Cup twice, the Italian Supercoppa, the Coppa Italia and a World Cup for clubs.

Ancelotti then left Italy and in 2009 joined Chelsea. He stayed two seasons, in the first he won the domestic double (league title and FA Cup) while in the second the Blues finished 2nd behind Manchester United. His players included Petr Čech, John Terry, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda, Deco.

In January 2012 he took over from Antoine Kombouaré at Paris Saint Germain. He stayed that season and the next, finishing 2nd and then champions. His players included: Thiago Silva, Marco Verratti, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Zlatan Ibrahimović, David Beckham.

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In 2013 he joined Real Madrid for the first time. He stayed two seasons. In the first the Merengues finished 3rd but won the Champions League and the Copa del Rey while in the second they finished 2nd but won the FIFA World Cup for clubs and the UEFA Super Cup. His players included; Iker Casillas, Pepe, Daniel Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Gareth Bale, Casemiro, Xabi Alonso, Luka Modrić, Sami Khedira, Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria, Karim Benzema just to name a few.

In 2016 he moved to the Bundesliga and joined Bayern Munich. He stayed one full season, winning the league title and the German Super Cup. In his second season he was sacked in September after a 0-3 defeat to PSG.

In 2018 he returned to Italy and signed for Napoli. The Partenopei finished 2nd. The following season he was replaced in December by Gennaro Gattuso with the club in 7th place but through in Champions League to the last 16.

Ancelotti's next club was Everton in the English Premier League. In December 2019 he took over from Duncan Ferguson and the Toffees finished 12th. The following year the Blues finished 10th.

At this point Ancelotti returned to Real Madrid and winning trophies. This is his fourth season back at "Los Blancos" and so far he has won two more Liga titles, two more Champions Leagues, a World Cup for clubs, two UEFA Super Cups, two Spanish Super Cups and a Copa del Rey.

An excellent player and a superb manager. He is nicknamed Carlo Magno and Re Carlo.

As a player he was a midfielder. He started further forward but then moved back to play as a deep lying playmaker. He was extremely strong physically with solid tackling skills but also good technique and a cracking shot.

As a manager he has become one of the all-time greats. His calm leadership qualities and his ability to mould players into a winning unit have won him respect and trophies all over Europe. He started as a Sacchi disciple but has learnt to adapt his tactical setups to the players he has. He is a winning coach but also much loved for his human qualities.

Professionally his records speak for themselves, they include;

• only coach to have won all 5 major European leagues

• most UEFA tournaments (11)

• most Champions Leagues (5)

• most UEFA Super Cups (5)

• most matches in Champions League (215)

• only coach to have won the Champions League twice with two different clubs

One could go on but he has not finished yet so they will probably have to be updated anyway...

Sources

Wikipedia