Chelsea were unable to do Brazil a favour. Nor, before them, were Liverpool. And so Real Madrid go marching on in the Champions League — making it hard for Brazil to fill their coaching vacancy.
After yet another World Cup disappointment, Brazil seem willing, for the first time on any definitive basis, to appoint a foreigner to take charge of the national team. And the name at the top of their wish list is Carlo Ancelotti. But there is a problem. Ancelotti is happy at Real Madrid, and keeps stressing his desire to see out the end of his contract, which comes to an end in of summer 2024.
There is, then, only one way that he can suddenly become available to take the Brazil job — if Real Madrid decide to dispense with his services. There has been some speculation that this might happen if Real are unable to defend the Champions League title they won last season. But here they are in the last four of the competition. Semifinal opponents Manchester City can do something about that next month. In the meantime, Brazil wait — because while there is a chance of landing Ancelotti, they clearly believe he is worth waiting for.
This is hardly a surprise. The 63-year-old Italian has an imposing CV; four Champions League titles (to date), plus wins in all of the big five European leagues across stints at Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Napoli, and Everton — and his two stints in Madrid.
But in the case of Ancelotti, what makes him so desirable to Brazil goes well beyond the results. It is the way that he goes about his business.
Bringing in a foreign coach is a bold step. There is, it appears, no resistance from the players. They, after all, operate in a globalised environment, with multi cultural, multilingual dressing rooms. And some of the big names already have an excellent relationship with him. Vinicius Junior, for example, makes it clear that he wants to continue working with Ancelotti, either with club or country. But there will be plenty of resistance to the idea of perhaps the foremost symbol of the nation being placed in foreign hands.
The Brazilian coaching fraternity will not be impressed, neither will sections of the nation’s press. And older people, those who did not grow up with today’s globalised game, may also have misgivings. Therefore, Brazil’s first foreign boss will have to be something of a diplomat — and this is a role for which Ancelotti was born.
It is easy to look at the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho and see how much the stresses of elite level coaching have aged them. Not Ancelotti. His style of leadership is suave, low key. The iron jaw keeps chomping away at the chewing gum, there is the odd sardonic raise of an eyebrow — and the titles keep rolling in.
