Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has one of the best track records in football history as a manager, arguably the best in Europe, but he gets cut little slack in Madrid.
The Italian secured an unlikely double for Los Blancos last season, winning the league comfortably and then securign the most dramatic of victories in the Champions League. While underdogs is perhaps a stretch, they were certainly a long way from favourites in every tie, and very few expected them to make it to the final, let alone win it.
In the process they eliminated Paris Saint-Germain from behind, the reigning Champions League winners at the time Chelsea, Premier League champions Manchester City, and Liverpool, who made to the final of every competition they were in, narrowly pipped in the league too.
The explanation? It’s Real Madrid. While there were obviously reasons, tactics and a number of quality players involved, the¡ image conveyed was that it was simply a product of the atmosphere, tradition and experience of the club.
Ancelotti himself was given credit for a number of smart substitutes, his cool under pressure and his maintenance of the dressing room, there was very little attribution of the victory to Ancelotti, but rather it was the club that grew its reputation. His lack of ego and lack of desire to intellectualise his approach has enabled that.
Their victory last season, unlikely, with a manager at Everton the previous season, and a squad supposedly well past its sell by date, served primarily to propagate the myth-building of Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The results prove that they deserve their image as having an extra helping of ‘magic’ in the competition, and that everyone at the club itself believe in that extra something.
As Los Blancos try to recruit the next generation of Champions League winners, including Jude Bellingham, they can point to the fact that nowhere else are they more likely to win the competition. Even when the prevailing logic and reason are against them.
The Sun, via Diario AS, say that Manchester United will look to pursue Eduardo Camavinga in the summer, if Sheikh Jassim takes over, uniting him with Kingsley Coman and Kylian Mbappe. Yet Real Madrid will not have to worry about that interest, unless they want to sell on their own terms.
Youngsters like Camavinga see Real Madrid as the top of the mountain, when perhaps a poor Champions League showing last year would have reinforced the idea posited by some that La Liga is on the decline.
Essentially, their triumph gives Los Blancos, beyond the tradition and prestige they already had, the chance to show players that regardless of circumstances, they will compete for the biggest honour every year. Thus, in the market, every other side is playing catch-up when trying to persuade players to leave or not to join them.
