Will he stay or will he go? The Italian’s future is clouded in mixed messages despite being touted as the successor to TiteYou may have heard that Carlo Ancelotti will be the next manager of Brazil, at least if you have been listening to the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), anyway. If you have been listening to Ancelotti or Real Madrid, on the other hand, chances are you haven’t heard a thing. And that may be the most telling portrait of the way the pursuit of him has played out: no long-awaited announcement of his arrival. No arrival, either.On 5 July, the CBF president, Ednaldo Rodrigues, named the Italian as the Brazil coach from 2024. Since then there...
Repeat of last season’s semi-final and the teams’ routes to the last four suggest Europe’s other big teams need to catch upI was looking forward to Bayern Munich against Manchester City. In April, when the best meet, you expect exciting matches. But I was disappointed. City managed the 3-0 advantage from the first leg. Bayern were not able to challenge their opponents.Now I’m looking forward to Real Madrid against City. It’s the semi-final from last year, and back then it was the highlight of the season, with a narrow winner at the last. Again, it’s the two strongest clubs in the Champions League, which says a lot about Europe’s football. The English and Spanish leagues are not producing a second...
Haaland’s direct play has edged the City manager away from pitfalls of purism – but will it be enough against Real Madrid? It is a little over nine years since Pep Guardiola first took on Carlo Ancelotti as a manager. Guardiola’s Bayern Munich had sealed the Bundesliga title almost a month earlier, often registering 1,000 passes in a game, and his football seemed unstoppable. For 18 minutes in the first leg at the Bernabéu, Bayern continued to seem imperious. Then Ancelotti’s Real Madrid countered and Fábio Coentrão squared for Karim Benzema to score. Bayern continued to dominate the ball; Madrid continued to look dangerous. It finished 1-0.In retrospect, before Guardiola and Ancelotti meet in another semi‑final at the Bernabéu on...
A beautiful piece of skill from Karim Benzema would have unnerved the American who may now regret his trash-talkingIf there was a moment to make Todd Boehly think twice about making such a bold prediction ever again, it came when Karim Benzema took a pass with his back to goal just before half-time and used the outside of his right foot to produce a flick so deceptive it completely flummoxed N’Golo Kanté, the ground giving way as the ball span away from the Chelsea midfielder and Real Madrid set off on yet another counterattack.Welcome to the Bernabéu. And Todd, thanks for your take on where European football has been going wrong all these years. A word to the wise, though:...
Ancelotti’s side had come back from the dead so many times en route to the final but for once they didn’t need to in ParisIn every walk of life, there are people whose greatest gift is being the most confident person in the room. They succeed and you can never quite work out why. What is it they actually do? Is it anything beyond just looking the part? Real Madrid have just won the Champions League for the 14th time.It can’t just be luck. There has to be more to it than that. And yet in every game in the knockout phase of this Champions League, against Paris Saint-Germain, against Chelsea, against Manchester City, they have had fewer shots than...