if the coaches are better than the managers – Corriere.it

With each success of Ancelotti, the only coach who has won four Champions Leagues and the Scudetto in five different countries, it would be useful to remember how he was treated in Italy before starting the Milan cycle (therefore at Juve) and after returning to Serie A laden with medals, then to Naples: «Bollito» was the most elegant adjective. “He has to fix his son” the most used argument, even after the restart with Everton.

Instead Carletto has once again settled Real, who returned to win the Club World Cup on Saturday, after the incredible European run. The contract with the merengues it expires in 2024, but La Liga is already compromised (Barcelona have an 11-point lead, with one more game) and Ancelotti knows better than anyone that lasting long with Perez is not easy. Around the corner, between one denial and another, there could be the legendary Technical Commission of Brazil, with a World Cup to win again after 24 years, the same years that elapsed between 1970 and 1994. An eternity. But Ancelotti solves problems, lowers the pressure, knows how to find the right words in many languages. And above all he is capable of always going beyond the labels, putting football at the center of everything. Something that even more experienced colleagues such as Allegri, Gasperini, Spalletti, Pioli or Conte and the younger ones, such as Simone Inzaghi or De Zerbi, are capable of doing in their own small way, testifying that the Italian school is healthy and is always listed abroad.

According to an American study, published yesterday in Spain, football is the Iberian industry that has been talked about the most on social media in the US since 2017. Nothing more than a business card in the hands of the clubs, it is clear. But no less. If Italy hasn’t won a Champions League since 2010 or if there are no Italian forwards who have an impact, it’s not the fault of the coaches, which we like to discuss so much. You need players and therefore you need good managers who go and find them, as the case of Napoli demonstrates well: in the starting grids it was difficult to find Spalletti’s team among the top four. But football runs fast, beats clichés, maybe builds others, destined to last a few months. The men, the professionalism, the skills remain, as the interceptions on the Juve case also recall in their own way: if the Juventus club has squandered an unprecedented position of technical and sporting dominance, it is not the fault of the judiciary, the press or UEFA. And much less the coaches.