The few hundred Real Madrid fans at Camp Nou were housed together behind the south goal, protected by a partition separating them from the pitch, which in truth wasn’t too practical for watching the game.
And it was a stunning game. Madrid’s 4-0 victory over Barcelona saw them reach the Copa del Rey final as 4-1 winners on aggregate and, having completed the feat, the entire squad remembered that minority of supporters in the distance. On the pitch after the final whistle, Madrid’s players waved to the crowd, sang and embraced each other in celebration.
Near the benches, Madrid’s coaching team was also buried in hugs, everyone rejoicing their passage to the final against Osasuna on May 6. Except for one.
Amid so much joy and so many smiles, Carlo Ancelotti, who can regularly be seen closely celebrating with his staff, preferred to take his leave and head down the tunnel.
He was still tense, chewing away despite the flavour of his gum having likely worn off long ago. As his players arrived in the dressing room, he took the opportunity to speak to his people on the phone, to whom he said the same thing he would repeat later at the post-match press conference: “I’m happy to coach this team and this club.”
When asked at the same press conference if the result served as vindication in the face of recent doubts about his work at Madrid, Ancelotti was very blunt. He replied: “What does it vindicate me of? It vindicates me of nothing.”
Despite those words, there is no doubt this was a big personal win for the Italian coach. It all started with a key selection choice.
Madrid had suffered three consecutive defeats to Barca since beating Xavi’s side in their first encounter this season in October, but despite this, Ancelotti decided to retain the offensive core of previous line-ups. Eduardo Camavinga was the more progressive choice at left-back, Rodrygo came in to join Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema across the front line, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Federico Valverde held up the middle.
Some voices within the club would have rather not seen Camavinga chosen, others would have picked Aurelien Tchouameni over Modric or Kross. Some might have considered switching Vinicius Jr from his usual left flank, given Xavi’s repeated success in suppressing the Brazilian through Ronald Araujo.
But Ancelotti did not give in. He knew it was a vital game, a turning point in the season. If he had to go down, he was going to die with his idea.
“Change? It’s an option, but you also have to appreciate that in the last three games we’ve done well,” he had said in the pre-match press conference. “We were very close to winning the last game at the Camp Nou. The line doesn’t change.”
And this time, the plan worked.
Madrid had to hang on for much of the first 45 minutes but Vinicius Jr opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time, breaking Barca’s shape on the counter attack, 20 seconds after Thibaut Courtois had made a crucial save. In the second half, Ancelotti doubled down on his offensive gamble and unleashed Modric and Kroos to cook up further opportunities on the break, with Barca now obliged to open up.
As Xavi’s side began to offer Madrid more and more space, they found it impossible to prevent Benzema from scoring the first hat-trick by a Madrid player at the Camp Nou since Ferenc Puskas in 1963, when the team coached by Miguel Munoz won 5-1.
Until Wednesday night, no Real Madrid coach had managed a four-goal win at the Camp Nou since. It was another record that, after the match, Ancelotti’s camp recognised and celebrated effusively.
They considered it the most important victory of the season, above even the Champions League last-16 first leg against Liverpool.
Real Madrid’s players celebrate on the Camp Nou pitch after the final whistle (Photo: Pedro Castillo/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
Those two Madrid triumphs, at Anfield and at the Camp Nou, represent more than just prestige for Ancelotti. They have also given him crucial room for manoeuvre within the club, where he had begun to be questioned after January’s 3-1 defeat by Barca in the Supercopa de Espana final.
Further pressure came after Barca beat them 1-0 win at the Bernabeu in the first leg of this Copa del Rey semi-final. Their closest rivals have stormed away in La Liga, leading by 12 points, but now, with this result, total domestic dominance has not been given up. And this comeback will allow Ancelotti to calmly approach the Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea, which is where his fate will really be decided, with the first leg to be played in the Spanish capital next Wednesday.
With the race for La Liga virtually over, Ancelotti knows he has to win the other big title of the season, the Champions League, if he wants to completely guarantee staying on. Although, after recent displays, winning the domestic cup and doing well in the Champions League, without even claiming that trophy, might yet see him stay on.
All of this is being played out amid interest from Brazil in making Ancelotti their next manager. But his entourage insist that Madrid is where he wants to be. With his contract running until 2024, tonight will be held up by his supporters as another fine example of why he is the best coach for this team, which still has certain limitations.
“If Real Madrid are happy with me then we can continue until 2034,” Ancelotti said after Sunday’s 6-0 thrashing of Real Valladolid. It was tongue-in-cheek, but those words reflect that sentiment.
He believes he can still be useful to Madrid, but the final decision will be up to the club. For the moment at least, he is the one calling the shots, and on Wednesday night that involved making what was a very popular decision.
“Just because it’s today, tomorrow will be a day off,” Ancelotti announced at the top of his lungs in the Camp Nou dressing room. His words were greeted with delirium from the entire group of Madrid players, which have always shown signs of being very united and supportive of their coach.
This spectacular 4-0 win over his side’s closest rivals was another display of strength from the Italian, but his future is still up in the air.
