The new triumph of Charles V Europe at Ancelotti’s feet

the character / 2

Carletto forever, Charlemagne until yesterday, from today Charles the Fifth: and from tomorrow on his bench empire the sun will never set again. Others before him had won the title in 4 different championships: Ivic, Happel, Gerets, Mourinho and the old Trap. But in the middle there were, with all due respect, Belgian, Dutch, Austrian, Portuguese, Turkish championships. He not only got to 5. But above all he raised the trophies in the order in Italy, England, France, Germany and now Spain: in the Europe that matters to him.

The soundtrack can only be the final third act of Verdi’s Ernani: when the choir splits and while some sing “to Charlemagne glory and honor” the others respond “to Carlo Quinto imperator”. A great honor for an adopted Parmesan who still remains a Reggiano of origin: therefore a “testa quèdra”, because when the bell tower is in the middle, pity is dead. Not that a Scudetto at Real is then this feat, in a season in which Barça could not compete. In fact, he enjoyed it with sobriety, already having in mind Wednesday’s semifinal with City, of a completely different depth.

But two additional factors add to the right load of lust. The first is that the bad experience in Naples, followed by the equally unfortunate one at Everton, had authorized some suspicion of decline. And some ill will too. The second is the presence of him next to him on the bench of his son Davide, to add pride and to authorize, at this point, the hope of an imperial dynasty.

Where to begin to tell the amazing, and at this point, historical career of Ancelotti? From the great player that he was, for example, in spite of the many, serious knee injuries. From 300 and more games played as a fighting and government midfielder with the jerseys of Rome and Milan, a championship on one side, two on the other plus as many Champions and Intercontinental Cups. From him being a leader on the field without making it weigh, from the strength to start again and try again every time the knee went sideways. And then, in his second football life, from the ability to better manage relationships with players, were they champions, and he had and continues to have many, or followers, and of these he had less also because not a few have them made to grow up. And to continue teaching football without ever claiming to have invented it, unlike many colleagues, true and presumed prophets.

From all the great technicians who had trained him, Liedholm, Sacchi, Capello, something sponged, trying to get the best both on a technical and tactical level. While from an environmental and character point of view there is no doubt that Liedholm was his absolute reference. For the phlegm, the ability to play down, for the right dose of humor, for the velvet glove that has always hidden the iron fist, whenever he needed it. The first experience on the bench as second to Sacchi, in Usa ’94, then the restart from the origins, Reggiana and Parma, the jump to Juve and that unforgettable and not exactly prophetic ostracism of the ultras, a pig cannot train. From there the streak with Milan, Scudetti, Cups, Super Cups, not always deploying the two canonical points as per the owner’s claim, but looking for and finding a way to bring together, for example, Pirlo, Seedorf, Rui Costa and Kakà.

Not bad for someone who started from the dogma of 4-4-2 who in Parma for this reason had given up on Baggio. From there to Chelsea, to PSG, a first time at Real where it was tough with that Barça but he made up for it with the Tenth, in the sense of the Champions Cup, at Bayern. And after the brackets in Naples and Everton, here he is again at Real to complete the work with the Liga he was missing. He had started from Parma, almost twenty-year-old center-forward backward launched by Cesare Maldini. Take a look at where it has come, a little over forty years later. –

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