Football: Carlo Ancelotti moves from the white house of Madrid to the yellow jersey of Brazil

Carlo Ancelotti will no longer see a Clasico between Real and Barça from the Madrid bench. This will spare the Italian coach nightmares, who drank the cup to the dregs on Sunday at the Camp Nou : by losing 4-3, Real most likely saw the Spanish league title slip into the Catalan trophy cabinet. This season, Madrid have met their arch-rivals Barcelona four times, losing as many times and with a cumulative score of 16 goals to 7. The icing on the cake of disillusionment for the Italian coach, whose next Clasicos will be in blue and yellow, between Argentina and Brazil, for whom Ancelotti will become the first foreign coach. A symbolic title, but one that still ranks a coach.

Ancelotti, the "Mister," is a monument of world football over the past 40 years. He's not a tracksuit-wearing coach, always wearing a suit and tie on the bench. Italian class. A list of achievements as long as Kim Jong-Un's list of decorations: champion of Italy (AC Milan, 2004), England (Chelsea 2010), France (PSG, 2013), Germany (Bayern Munich, 2017), Spain (Real Madrid (2022, 2024). Five times winner of the Champions League (with AC Milan in 2003 and 2007, then with Real in 2014, 2022 and 2023), a competition he won as a player in the colors of AC Milan (1989 and 1990). And we pass over the national cups, the European Super Cups or the victories in the Club World Cup.

But this season everything went wrong. With the arrival of Mbappé, who joined Modric, Bellingham, Vinicius Jr., among others, Real Madrid thought they had recreated a new generation of Galacticos (after Zidane, Beckham, Figo, Ronaldo, etc.). Ancelotti, the man with fifteen titles with Real Madrid, a record, found himself leading a shaky team, a Galacticos compared to the club's ambitions. Last season, in all competitions, the team lost two games; they have lost fourteen this year, even though La Liga is still ongoing. For the Merengue, it will end on May 25 against Real Sociedad. On the 26th, he will officially become the first foreign coach of an Auriverde national team, which is chasing a sixth World Cup victory since 2002 and a tenth Copa America title since 2019. This will be the first time that Ancelotti will lead a national team (he served as assistant with the Italian national team between 1992 and 1995).

A former Real Madrid and 2010 World Cup-winning Spanish team stalwart will succeed him on the bench. Xabi Alonso was a classy defensive midfielder for Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich , where he finished his career in 2017. Last week, he announced his departure from Bayer Leverkusen, and it was clear he would end up at Real Madrid. Xabi Alonso is not a coach in a suit. Good for him, because Ancelotti's role will weigh heavily on his successor's shoulders.