Carlo Ancelotti became the first manager in history to reach five Champions League finals after Real Madrid stunningly beat Man City 6-5 on aggregate to set up a match with Liverpool
Thursday 5 May 2022 13:23, UK
After becoming the first coach to win all five of Europe's top-five leagues, Carlo Ancelotti has put his name in the history books again by reaching his fifth Champions League final.
Real's 4-0 win over Espanyol on Saturday put him alone in managerial history in leading teams from Serie A, the Premier League, Ligue 1, the Bundesliga and La Liga to league titles.
The 62-year-old is already the first man to lead four different clubs to the Champions League semi-finals, and after a stunning extra-time comeback win over City at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, now stands alone as the only man in history to manage in five Champions League finals.
He was victorious in his first Champions League final with a penalty shootout win over Juventus at Old Trafford in 2003, but two years later was beaten on spot kicks after a stunning comeback from Liverpool in Turkey. Another two years on and he got his revenge, as Milan beat the Reds 2-1 in Athens.
Despite his close and long-term relationship with the city of Milan, perhaps his best final was saved for his first spell at the Bernabeu, where he finally helped Real Madrid to 'La Decima', their 10th Champions League trophy, an achievement they had waited 12 years to realise.
Eight years on from last lifting the European Cup, he will now have the chance to add a fourth winners' medal to his collection when Real take on Liverpool in Paris later this month - with Klopp taking to the dugout in his fourth final, only one behind Ancelotti.
In contrast to events this week, Ancelotti's first season back in the Spanish capital had started with a certain degree of apathy towards his return.
He had just spent a season managing Everton to an unremarkable 10th-placed finish in the Premier League, returning only 12 points from his last 10 games. Meanwhile, the club was desperate to return to the top after losing out to their city-rivals Atletico Madrid in La Liga in 2020/21 and although Ancelotti was still well thought of from his first spell in Spain, he had failed to lift the domestic title in either of his two previous seasons at the Bernabeu.
Spanish football journalist Tom Allnutt told Sky Sports: "When he arrived, it was a fairly underwhelming appointment. He wasn't unwelcome, no one was annoyed about it, he is very popular in Madrid with the players, club and journalists but people were a little surprised.
"He's done a good job, a really good job. They've been a lot better defensively, he's stabilised them at the back which needed doing after they lost Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane.
"More than anything it's the normal thing with Ancelotti, he's ridden out any storms and individual instances with players. He has that ability to make everything seem unimportant, which is a real skill and valuable for a coach of Real Madrid. It was one of Zidane's greatest strengths, to diffuse controversy, keep the players and team away from the noise.
"In part, it's because he's 62 years old, and bottom line he doesn't see it as high-pressure a job as other coaches would when they go through bad patches. He doesn't have that sense of bitterness or pressure, he's just really pleased and grateful to have another opportunity to manage Madrid. I think he thought Everton was going to be his level, so it's worked well for him and for Madrid as well."
There were questions over the Italian's future after a 4-0 drubbing by Barcelona in March despite their lead over Chelsea in the Champions League and at the top of La Liga, a madness only understood in the ruthless Bernabeu boardroom which has turned away many trophy-winning coaches over the years.
That talk has long since quietened and it appears instead he will at least see out the second of his two-year contract in the Spanish capital, although if another shaky moment does signal his departure, it will be on good terms.
Allnutt says: "If he leaves, which I don't think he will now but if he did, there won't be any bitterness or resentment from either side. Perez would thank him for coming back and doing the job they wanted him to do, and now they'd just be moving him on for Nagelsmann or Pochettino and go in a different direction, but ultimately it's been a successful spell.
"He understands more than anyone the ruthlessness of Real Madrid, and it was one of the attractions of hiring him in the first place - he was an easy hire, and he'd be an easy fire too."
Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo finally stole the Champions League thunder away from Karim Benzema's rich vein of form in the two legs of the semi-final win over City, with the Brazilians scoring three of Real's six goals - including two in as many minutes to rescue the tie in Wednesday night's dramatic showdown.
Where predecessor Zinedine Zidane had struggled to turn Vinicius into more than a pace merchant, Ancelotti has upped his output and the 21-year-old has scored 14 goals in 28 La Liga starts this season, with his quality evident with the manner of his dummy on Fernandinho before scoring at the Etihad last week.
Although Rodrygo, also 21, did not start in Madrid, he has been honed by Ancelotti into a super-sub in their Champions League campaign, scoring a group-stage winner against Inter Milan before netting crucial second-leg strikes against Chelsea and now City.
The main plus for him has been the form of Vinicius Junior, he's basically been transformed from what he was under Zidane.
"Ancelotti is probably the ideal coach for these players," Spanish football journalist Ben Hayward tells Sky Sports. "Tactically he is intelligent, but he is also something of a father figure to his squad and that is ideal for youngsters like Vinicius and Rodrygo.
"Perhaps they have also benefited from clearer tactical instructions than they had from Zidane - and they have thrived this season."
Aside from Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and a select group of others few managers have managed to cultivate the longevity Ancelotti has, as highlighted by his record-breaking domestic league title haul and Champions League final record.
The game has changed beyond recognition since the Italian's first Champions League win almost two decades ago, with man management needs totally different and both tactics and analysis have evolved with the influx and minutiae of technology now prevalent in the game.
Ancelotti's flexibility both to his management style and his playing philosophy has meant where some others have struggled to stay at the top table - most notably Jose Mourinho in recent years - his success has continued into a fourth decade.
"It's down to his ability to manage players, and tactically his flexibility," says Allnutt. "He confesses himself he doesn't really have a clear obvious identity he has to subscribe to. He looks at the players he has, and adjusts the team according to that model.
"There's been a few questions this season about Barcelona and their purist approach, and whether Real were playing well enough or if they were too defensive, especially after the PSG first leg, he got a lot of criticism for how they played there.
"He pointed to the pace they had on the break, but also the old legs they have in midfield - they're not going to be playing a high press all game. With big clubs like Real Madrid where you have to manage a load of stars, his approach is the right one - he's not really a training ground coach, a manager, a motivator, and when it comes to tactics being versatile and flexible."
2003: AC Milan beat Juventus 3-2 on penalties - Won
2005: Liverpool beat AC Milan 3-2 on penalties - Lost
2007: AC Milan beat Liverpool 2-1 - Won
2014: Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 4-1 - Won
2022: Real Madrid v Liverpool (May 28) - tbc
