If you think you are having a bad week at work, spare a thought for the now former Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti who was sacked on Monday.
It would seem that winning four trophies in two years, including the club’s much-coveted “la Décima” — the 10th European Cup in its history — wasn’t enough to keep the Italian in the job he told CNN he wanted “for the rest of his life.”
To make matters worse for Ancelotti, when Real president Florentino Perez — the man who sacked him — was asked during a press conference why he had been relieved of his duties, he replied: “Erm, I don’t know.”
“I want to thank Carlo Ancelotti for his two years of service, all his hard work and the affection he has shown, and also tell him that this is his still his home,” Perez said.
“This has been a difficult decision as you can all imagine, especially for the Board of Directors, but like I always say we are not here, at Real Madrid, to make easy decisions.”
Ancelotti is now the 12th manager to have come and gone at Madrid since 2000.
Perez’s cutthroat approach has reaped three league titles and two Champions League trophies in 15 years, numbers which pale in comparison with fierce rivals Barcelona’s seven La Liga triumphs and three Champions League successes over the same period.
Ancelotti, formerly coach of Chelsea and AC Milan, clearly left an impression on some of the club’s senior players — Cristiano Ronaldo posted a photo and a message of support on his Instagram profile.
In what is likely to be scant consolation to Ancelotti, he isn’t the first manager to part company with a club within a year of winning the Champions League — in fact, every manager to have won European club football’s biggest prize in the last five years has in one way or another.
After success with Inter Milan in 2010, Jose Mourinho left Italy within a week to join Perez at Real. Pep Guardiola left Barcelona to go on sabbatical after their 2011 triumph, while Roberto Di Matteo was sacked six months after delivering Chelsea’s first European Cup.
Jupp Heynckes retired after winning with Bayern Munich in 2013, before Ancelotti’s unceremonious sacking on Monday.
Now unemployed, Ancelotti will be able to undergo back surgery to help his cervical spinal stenosis.
“I must have a back operation because of a stenosis that for some time creates a tingle in my hands,” said Ancelotti. “If I waste more time it could extend to my legs and this is why I have made an appointment to have the surgery done.”
