SOne day they will come up with a different story. Once again Real Madrid did not seem entirely convincing. Once again their opponents had opportunities. Once again there was the feeling that they were making their luck. And again they won and by the end they were in so much control that it seemed bizarre that they were ever doubted. Victory over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday gave Madrid their sixth Champions League in 11 years and again there was the odd feeling that they had won it largely because they were used to winning it.
There are two different – and seemingly contradictory – aspects to this. On the one hand, there is a kind of revisionism going on, an attempt to suggest that Madrid simply do things differently because they and their coaches, be it Zinedine Zidane or Carlo Ancelotti, do not have a clearly defined philosophy and their tactical excellence is underemphasized. And maybe there is some truth in that; but on the other hand, Karim Adeyemi from Dortmund squandered two wonderful chances on Saturday with the score 0-0. Madrid does give its opponents many chances.
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But on the other hand, there is the fact that they continue to do this. They can get away with things. Their opponents often make stupid mistakes – on Saturday it was Ian Maatsen, but goalkeepers in particular seem sensitive: think of Loris Karius, Gianluigi Donnarumma or Gianluigi Buffon from fairly recent memory. And their players often do brilliant or unexpected things exactly when necessary: a Luka Modrić cross with the outside of his right foot, a bicycle kick from Gareth Bale, 1.80 meter Dani Carvajal outpacing 1.80 meter Nicklas Füllkrug and thus scoring his first Champions League goal in five years. . There must be a reason. Fortune plays a bigger role in football than people often like to admit, but this level of success cannot be down to just luck.
Pep Guardiola in particular must look with some bewilderment at Madrid’s success over the past decade and reflect on all the setbacks that have befallen him in the competition: the Icelandic volcanoes, the missed opportunities, the games dominated and lost by one breakaway. There he is with 12 league titles in the 16 years since he became manager, apparently a ruthless, ruthless winner, and yet still stuck with just three Champions Leagues. ‘Ordinary’ is of course a somewhat absurd term that only makes sense in context; only Ancelotti has ever won more; only Zidane and Bob Paisley can match him, and yet given the way his sides have dominated, it somehow doesn’t feel quite enough.
Ancelotti, on the other hand, with his five Champions Leagues, only has six league titles. Again, “only” feels unnecessarily judgmental, but considering the teams he has managed, that figure is also on the low side. He may be the only coach to win each of Europe’s “Big Five” competitions, but La Liga is the only one he has won twice. And it was under his watch as manager of Madrid that Atlético won La Liga for the first time, and under his watch as manager of Paris Saint-Germain that Montpellier won Ligue 1.
But perhaps that is no coincidence. Ancelotti was fired by Bayern in September 2017 because the team felt he was not intense enough. It may be that his sense of perspective means he doesn’t quite have the almost pathological drive of so many managers and that makes it difficult to maintain form and focus throughout an entire league campaign. But it could also be that that deficit is also what makes him so effective in the knockout competition, that players don’t need external motivation for big quarters or semi-finals, but what is useful is someone to keep them calm. It may be that when a match seems to be going against them, it is more beneficial to see a manager who still seems to have full confidence, rather than one who rails against fate, falls to his knees and pulls his scalp tears. Ancelotti is the only coach in the last five years to knock Guardiola out of Europe in two legs – and he has done it twice.
More league titles in Madrid now seem likely as Barcelona faces financial and political crisis. Kylian Mbappé will arrive in the coming days and although as Galáctico he represents a change in recent strategy and there are questions about where exactly he will fit in, it seems that his preference to come from the left seems to be a copy of what Vinícius Júnior does, he is a player of exceptional quality.
Ancelotti is not the ruthlessly intense high priest of some coaching philosophy, but what he is good at is connecting with players, producing exceptional performances even from those who don’t demand extraordinary fees – players like Andriy Lunin, Nacho Fernández and Lucas Vazquez. When Guardiola is presented as the greatest coach of his generation, Ancelotti reminds us that football is a game that can reward more than one approach. It may even be that in the Champions League the more relaxed style is more effective.
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This is an excerpt from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, the Guardian US’s weekly look at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Do you have a question for Jonathan? Email footballwithjw@theguardian.com and he will provide the best answer in a future edition