Davide Ancelotti has been a technical month in Rio for a month: “Here football is passion. My father asks and suffers. If you are a coach, having my surname is very heavy. It will not be easy to overcome problems and prejudices”
Davide Ancelotti’s new life is not so different from the old one. Field, workouts, meetings, video sessions, interviews with players, games. As he has always done since he started following dad Carlo. It was 2012, in the staff of PSG preparators. “Now, however, I walk alone. I am the first coach, no longer the second. The responsibility has increased, and I feel it all. Driving the botofogo is not a joke.” So far three games, two wins, one equal and zero goals conceded. Today the challenge with Corinthians.
How is it in the role?
“I wanted the bicycle and now I pedal. The managers of the Botafogo, the collaborators, the players and the public are helping me a lot. Doing the first coach involves a not indifferent energy expenditure: you must have everything under control, you have to give the guidelines, you have to solve the problems and only at the end you also have to think about throwing the training down …”.
Someone said to her: but who made you do it?
“I wanted to get involved. At 36 years old, I think it is natural and human to try such an experience. I felt ready and I threw myself. And then I bring myself a lesson, that of my dad: I will need a lot on this path”.
Is the name Ancelotti heavy to bring?
“If you are a coach, it’s very heavy. I cannot deny it. But it is also heavy to bring the name Maldini for Daniel, after Paolo was a monument. And for Paolo it will have been heavy after Caesar … it is normal. I know that I will come judged, especially in the beginning, because I am the ‘son of Carlo’. And I also know that it will not be easy to overcome the problems and the prejudices. legs.
“Every day, it’s my first fan. He suffers a lot of races, he asks me, listen but always in a discreet way. He is not intrusive. Let me do my way and, only if I ask him, gives me a suggestion”.
How is football in Brazil?
“You can only understand it by living it. It is crazy, there is a passion that we Europeans don’t even imagine. Here they live on ball 24 hours a day, it is the center of existence. If the botofogo loses, the fans cry: do you understand the responsibility? I train the team that was from Garrincha, Nilton Santos, Didì, Zagallo, Jairzinho.
How was it welcomed?
“The audience welcomed me very well. And also society. I have not warned distrust. Curiosity yes, logical. But they count the results: if you do well, you are a phenomenon. And if you do badly, they criticize you. It is so everywhere and Brazil makes no difference”.
What is your ideal football?
“I don’t have a particular model. In the last season I really liked Luis Enrique’s PSG. Team that moves compact, which is good for a defensive and offensive phase. My goal is to give a style of play to the botofogo and then, as always, the players make the difference”.
One who would like with him?
“A phenomenon that unfortunately stopped: Toni Kroos. Absolutely, my favorite among those with whom I had to do.”
Will the World Cup still be at the side of Dad Carlo Ct of Brazil?
“If he still wants me … participating in a World Cup driving Brazil is a fantastic opportunity. He is very loaded, he feels a lot of commitment. And I will give him a hand”.
What did you learn from dad?
“Everything I know is the result of his teachings; it’s my model, I can’t hide it, but I don’t want to be his copy. I have my ideas, sometimes we discussed on tactical issues. It happens when working closely. I like an aggressive football, very vertical and organized. In recent years I have studied a lot: not only the methods of dad, but also those of Guardiola, Klopp and other great technicians. What to do, I look at me a Milan’s Milan race and the chills come to me: that team did, 35 years ago, what should be done today.
His working method?
“One word: dialogue. I learned that with the players you have to speak, you have to listen to them. This is how a winning group is built. I consider myself a quiet coach, I don’t like raising my voice”.
Do this lesson taught him his dad?
“No, it comes from inside. We Ancelotti are made like this. Sometimes, it is more important to have a chat with a player who perhaps is a little down rope rather than sending him on the field to run. Common sense is a fundamental rule”.
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