Managing Real Madrid is a job very few professional managers could handle as well as Carlo Ancelotti has. The Italian tactician is currently in his second stint at the club, and the results last season are a testament to his ability as a coach.
Ancelotti won the La Liga title last season with a dominant lead over Barcelona while simultaneously taking down the best teams in the world in the UEFA Champions League. The season ended with them lifting the coveted European silverware too, giving Ancelotti a claim as the best coach in the world.
Halfway through the 2022/23 season, things are not going to plan for the Real Madrid tactician. According to Sergio Santos, the club are losing faith in him and he is at risk of losing his job if he does not return with the FIFA Club World Cup in the bag.
The developments show that in the world of football, and especially Real Madrid, only the present matters. Despite his successes last season, Ancelotti now stares his uncertain future in the eye following the team’s subpar run of recent form.
Truth be told, Los Blancos simply have not been the same since the end of the FIFA World Cup. Their poor run began with a defeat to Villarreal in Estadio de La Ceramica last month before they went on to draw and lose their two games in the Spanish Super Cup.
A brief positive run in the cup involving comebacks and late goals gave a sense of false hope. However, the men in white are again in jeopardy, losing five points in their last three league games and dropping eight points behind Barcelona.
Ancelotti is now aware of the daunting challenge that lies ahead of him to finish the season with more silverware in the bag.
The Italian spent the entire winter transfer market saying he is happy with the squad at his disposal, but the truth is that he would have liked a few reinforcements to cover for the severe injury crisis.
Ancelotti must face off on all fronts with a squad of just 15-16 players available. After all, many players including Eden Hazard, Alvaro Odriozola, and Mariano Diaz are not favoured by the manager and are only on the squad as they could not engineer an exit.
A testing period awaits Ancelotti as he takes his Real Madrid to Morocco for the FIFA Club World Cup, where they play Al Ahly in the semi-finals without key men like Thibaut Courtois, Eder Militao, Karim Benzema and Ferland Mendy.
Source: madriduniversal.com
