The audience is divided between those who call him ‘Charles V’, counting only the Champions League titles as a coach, and those who also add those won as a footballer, transforming him into ‘Charles VII’. For the Reggio players, however, he is always ‘Carletto da Reggiolo’ as well as the last coach capable of bringing the Granata colors to Serie A (2 June 1996). However, everyone agrees on one thing: Ancelotti is in the history of football, on the throne of coaches. He probably already was before the last Wembley final won by his Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund, but this success seems to definitively separate him from the rest of his colleagues. When Florentino Perez’s club is involved, you never start out beaten, but Los Blancos were going through a moment of transition between the old and new guard and at the beginning of the season – in addition to the Golden Ball winner Benzema – they had also lost two pillars like Militao and the goalkeeper Courtouis, who only returned in the final. In short, the bookmakers’ favors were directed to others: Manchester City and Bayern Munich. However, Ancelotti’s work gave unity and conviction to the group which, in the key moment of the season, did nothing wrong: Leipzig out in the round of 16, City in the quarter-finals and Bayern in the semi-finals. ‘Negativity? When I’m behind in the score I think that I’ve already come back many times and I tell myself that it could happen again…’. A clarity that he evidently also manages to convey to his own teams. As also happened on 15 October 1995, when he won 3 to 0 against Venezia and avoided being sacked by Dal Cin. Meanwhile, Ancelotti responded to a message from the mayor of Reggiolo, Roberto Angeli, who had congratulated him after the victory. “A hug to all of you from Reggio Emilia. I always think of you”, Carletto’s words.
Francesco Pioppi
