Journalist: “It seems that Ronaldinho came back at 3 in the morning the other night, what do you think?”
Ancelotti: “He had permission until 5 am, he came back at 3, which means he wasn’t having fun.”
Our curiosities about the man of the moment start from his experience at Milan, the only team in his heart, but it wasn’t always like this.
Ancelotti: “I was an Inter fan. My idol was Mazzola. “
Few will believe it but the past of the current Real Madrid coach has been a Nerazzurri color.
“I had been boughtlet’s say, as a fan, because I had my cousin who lived in Milan and he had brought me an Inter suit, with the shirt and shorts, and from that day I had become an Inter fan ”. Thus begins the history of Carlo Ancelotti in football, begins with the colors of the Beneamata.
“Forza Inter” is now impossible to say, but I also cried for Inter and I can say this. Inter went to Mantua to play but unfortunately we could not find the tickets, however, with cunning I positioned myself in front of a gate to cry for 45 minutes and at the end, by dint of seeing me cry, the steward let me in to watch the second half. I remember that in the second half Inter scored 5 goals and won that match 6 to 1. It was the only time I saw Inter live. “
Then Milan, first as a player and then as a coach, a story with those colors that changed his footballing faith forever.
Not only Kakà, one of Ancelotti’s favorite players
Ancelotti has always focused first of all on the group, then the technical skills are another thing. Locker room man, able to make a difference both on and off the pitch. All the players he coached have always spoken highly of Reggiolo’s coach: a guide ready for comparison. But who were the players who impressed him the most on a technical level?
On the Juventus bench there are few doubts, Zizou’s class was crazy.
“I remember many things from the Juventus years: starting with Zidane, absolutely the strongest player I’ve ever coached. The regret, if I may say so, is that rarely, in matches, Zidane was able to do the monstrous things shown in training. “
At Milan there were two more than others who left him speechless: Andrea Pirlo and Ricardo Kaka. “I was wrong about her. I had compared him to Tonino Cerezo and he continued to make fun of me for a long time, for that wrong comparison. Other than Cerezo: Kakà was a phenomenon and, unlike Zidane, what he showed in training he also did in matches. It was fortunate to have him. “
And let’s close with the first parenthesis at Real Madrid where, in front of his eyes, he had several who taught football with their feet. “Cristiano Ronaldo is on another level. Score with incredible ease and it’s hard to find the words to define it. “
The fight at Caselle airport told by Ancelotti
November 8, 2000, Ancelotti, Juventus coach, plays part of the qualification for the final phase of the Champions League away against Panathinaikos of the former Paulo Sousa.
Just the midfielder opens the dance at the Olympic Athletic Center in Athens, 7 minutes after a free kick. The Juventus evening seems to improve after Pippo Inzaghi’s equalizer, but the numerous absences are seen and the Old Lady leaves the field defeated 3 to 1.
Upon returning to Italy, a group of people who were not exactly happy with the performance were waiting for the team. “One morning at four, at Caselle airport, we were returning from Athens, we had just made a fool of ourselves in the Champions League against Panathinaikos and we found a group of guys waiting for us who didn’t exactly want to pay us homage. As Zidane passed, they pushed him and it was their sentence. Not to death, but almost. Montero saw the scene from afar, took off his glasses with an elegance that I thought didn’t belong to him and put them in a case. Nice gesture, but bad signal, because within seconds he started running towards those wretches and beaten them up. Helped by Daniel Fonsecaanother who certainly did not let himself be prayed to. Paolo loved Zizou, I also adored Paul, pure in heart and spirit. A failed convict, but with a code of honor of his own. “
