Real Madrid returned to the summit of European football this summer to the surprise of most, led by a fantastic Karim Benzema, an inspirational Luka Modric and an unbeatable Thibaut Courtois.
Yet much of the credit must go to their coaching staff. Carlo Ancelotti returned to the elite from Everton last summer and has made massive improvements to the side.
In a recent thread by Relevo, the role of Davide Ancelotti, his son and assistant manager, has been detailed. It is thought that Davide is key to those improvements and has nudged his father in the direction of more modern tactical schemes.
El Real Madrid ganó al Almería con un golazo de falta de David Alaba. El austriaco iba a entrar después, pero Carletto adelantó la sustitución para que fuese el lanzador.
👇Nada de esto hubiese pasado sin la participación de Davide Ancelotti… pic.twitter.com/8f4gSUyJWW
— Relevo (@relevo) August 17, 2022
Against Almeria on the opening day of the season, notably it was Davide who urged Carlo to substitute David Alaba on hastily as Real Madrid lined up a free-kick on the edge of the box. Alaba scored with his first touch and Los Blancos ran out victors.
“My goal is to create a lot of doubts. I’m not here to say ‘yes, yes, yes’, I’m here like any assistant coach, I have the confidence, me more than the others, to say ‘no, I don’t agree with you,” Relevo quoted Davide from the Training Ground Guru podcast.
The younger of the Italians has won the respect of the players through his attention to detail and many use him as a sounding board for ideas or a conduit for advice.
Davide takes charge of much of the training sessions, allowing Carlo to observe, analyses the opposition and also works on set-pieces.
With Carlo Ancelotti announcing that he will retire after Real Madrid, perhaps his son may well be the ideal person to succeed him.
