Real Madrid: Carlo Ancelotti’s achievements speak for themselves and he is in a league of his own

It’s not his style to say: ‘I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business but I was in the top one’, but Carlo Ancelotti‘s achievements speak for themselves.

He may never have done it with a smaller club as the great Brian Clough – author of that masterful summing up of his own ability – did with Derby and Nottingham Forest, but Ancelotti’s latest piece of silverware puts him in a league of his own.

Being at the biggest and wealthiest club brings it’s own set of disadvantages. One being that you are never going to be lauded for finishing first and there is always a ‘yeah but…’ whenever Ancelotti wins.

Carlo Ancelotti win yet another league title, having clinched LaLiga with Real Madrid this year

The boss was hoisted into the air by his players, and his achievements speak for themselves

He coached the richest club in England, France, Germany and Spain so why shouldn’t he deliver those four titles to go with the Scudetto he won in 2004 with Milan?

And when, aged 63, he became the oldest coach to win the league with Real Madrid, a record previously held by Fabio Capello who did it at 60, there were some suggestions this was a title gifted him by the awful campaigns suffered by Atletico Madrid and Barcelona.

But Ancelotti has been almost 20 years at the very top of his trade and the breadth of his success across so much time and continent is a testament to his ability not his good fortune, no-one stays so lucky for so long. 

Ancelotti typically coaches rich clubs, such as Bayern Munich (above), but no-one stays lucky

Madrid wrapped up their latest piece of silverware after downing Espanyol at the Bernabeu

He has earned his place at the top of the pile – which is exactly where becoming the first coach to win five major European leagues puts him.

He is old and wise enough to know that when you bend forward to accept the medal that’s when you are most exposed to the kick up the backside. Lose badly against Manchester City on Wednesday and all the bouquets will wilt and rot over night – they will be speculating on who replaces him for next season come Thursday morning.

But even if that scenario plays out, nothing can take away the fact that he came to win the league this season and he achieved it when Atletico were the favourites, when Xavi, albeit belatedly, returned to Barcelona, when Madrid were facing a first season without Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, when an ageing midfield was probably going to need resting, and when there were no summer reinforcements for a forward line over-reliant on Karim Benzema.

‘He will just have to score 50 goals instead of 30,’ Ancelotti said last summer about his French forward. Was he serious? Benzema certainly took him at his word and is currently on 42 with five, maybe six games left.

The breadth of Ancelotti’s glory across so much time and continent is a testament to his ability

Ancelotti also said that players around Benzema would need to step up and nobody has done that more than Vinicius. His brilliant goal against Manchester City is what kept his team in the tie and he has 14 in the league. In the two seasons prior to Ancelotti’s arrival he had managed six in total.

Carlo has kept it simple for the 21-year-old Brazilian; he has also kept him on the pitch. Zinedine Zidane favoured making Vinicius one of his first changes in games and that robbed him of those precious last 20 minutes of matches when spaces appear and forwards can harvest goals. 

The goals have given him confidence to become the entertainer supreme that the Bernabeu has been crying out for since Ronaldo departed.

No team have scored more goals than Real Madrid, no team has come close. 

Karim Benzema (left) has stepped up for his club this season, alongside many other heroes

At the back only Sevilla, by one goal, have a better defensive record. David Alaba and Eder Militao have formed a partnership as good as Ramos and Varane in their prime and while it’s true he has benefitted from the form of Thibaut Courtois, Ancelotti has organised Madrid – save for the first 20 minutes against Manchester City at the Etihad – they are tough to score against.

And in midfield he has stuck by the most basic of coaching philosophies – don’t try to fix what isn’t broke. Questions were asked earlier in the season as to why he wasn’t resting Luka Modric more, but the 36-year-old Croatian has finished the season as strong as anyone.

Modric has played 1,849 minutes in LaLiga, slightly fewer than the 1,889 played by Toni Kroos. Casemiro has played 2,380. And only Karim Benzema (2,438), Vinicius (2,490) Alaba (2,644), Militao (2,785) and Courtois (3,060) have played more.

Madrid have fared better than most physically and Ancelotti’s skill at keeping reserves happy has meant that Fede Valverde, Dani Ceballos, Eduardo Camavinga, Rodrygo and Lucas Vazquez have all made contributions when needed. His team have played their part too. 

Luka Modric finished the campaign as strongly as anyone, despite calls for him to be rested

David Alaba has impressed since arriving and built up a good partnership with Eder Militao

‘Davide is not my assistant just because he is my son,’ said Ancelotti recently and the players seem to vouch for the 32-year-old’s competence alongside his father. And fitness coach Antonio Pintus has also convinced the players, as he has done so many times before across his three decades of working at the top.

Ancelotti would be the first to share the credit with them and point to his players as the reason for Madrid winning the league. He’ll be just as quick to take the blame if Manchester City win on Wednesday. And then he will take what comes at the end of the season. 

It will probably be another year in charge and if it isn’t he leaves with what he came for – his fifth league title in a fifth different league.