Martin Samuel: Why Carlo Ancelotti would be a perfect fit as Brazil’s first full-time foreign coach

If this is Ancelotti’s final season in Spain, as many believe, it is strongly suggested his next destination is Brazil. Not on a beach, and not as a club manager. Ancelotti is slated as the first full-time foreign coach of the Brazilian national team. There would be no greater honour, or more fitting confirmation of his talent.

Brazil don’t do foreign managers, not really. At the 1925 South American Championship, Ramon Platero, a Uruguayan, co-coached the team with Joaquim Guimaraes, a Brazilian native. Their tenure lasted the length of the tournament, which Argentina won. Joreca, who was Portuguese, was another co-coach, with Flavio Costa, for two friendlies against Uruguay between May 14 and 17, 1944.

Costa then continued in the role alone. Finally, Filpo Nunez, an Argentinian then managing Palmeiras, took Brazil for a single friendly against Uruguay in 1965. He remains the only foreign coach to have full charge of a game involving the Selecao.

That Brazil have made the coach of the under-20 side, Ramon Menezes, their interim manager while they wait for Ancelotti to decide his future at Real is testament to the Italian’s status.

Ancelotti has said he will not enter into any discussions until this Champions League run is over, so Wednesday’s 2-0 win against Chelsea will have been greeted with great disappointment in Brazil.

The performance, though, will not have been. Ancelotti showed, once again, that he is a brilliant, insightful, minimalist. He doesn’t make grand, dramatic, changes but what he does is smart and often devastatingly effective. He also showed he has an innate understanding of two young Brazilian players, and how they should be utilised.

We quite fancy Reece James and Ben Chilwell over here. Chelsea have had their problems, but most agree their full-back pairing is as strong as any in the country, and the pair’s absence because of injury was key to the poor start under Graham Potter.

James may lack the passing range of Trent Alexander-Arnold, but is regarded as the superior defender. Chilwell may not be as aggressively robust as Andrew Robertson, but can often be Chelsea’s most creative player. The Chelsea pair departed Madrid on Wednesday in ruins.

Chilwell was sent off, covering after another error by the hapless Marc Cucurella; James endured one of the least enjoyable evenings of his professional career.

Their tormentors were Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, two 22-year-old Brazilians who Chelsea could not control. Vinicius started every game for Brazil at the World Cup. Rodrygo did not, coming on as substitute four times, twice for his Real teammate. They were together on the pitch for one half against Switzerland, and nine minutes against South Korea, with the game already won. The way Ancelotti used them against Chelsea was match-defining.

Wide, that was the key. It sounds so simple, that wingers stay completely wide, yet few have the confidence to do it. Ancelotti does. “With wingers like Vinicius and Kylian Mbappe, once you win the ball if you don’t look for the vertical pass, you are a criminal,” he said, analysing teams during the 2022 World Cup. “I’m not ashamed to stay behind and look for the counter, even though I have quality players.”

That’s what he did against Chelsea. The Premier League team had a lot of the ball, but in areas that mattered little. Real pressed high but their best work was done when Chelsea had the temerity to advance. Once Real regained possession, they hit the flanks and Vinicius and Rodrygo hit the burners. They were quite spectacular. James’s numbers told a miserable tale: just one tackle, three duels won to seven lost, more than 20 per cent of passes astray.

It was an old-fashioned chasing.

Bobby Campbell, the Chelsea manager between 1988 and 1991, once said that his two favourite defenders were the unfashionable, and rather slow, Glenn Roeder, mainly of Newcastle United, and Lawrie Madden, who played at Sheffield Wednesday under Howard Wilkinson. Why? “I never saw either of them get a chasing,” he said. “They had matches where the centre forward got the best of it, because they weren’t quick. But they were too smart to get a chasing.” James got a chasing in Madrid.

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And the Brazilians will have seen further evidence of what their team may look like with Ancelotti in charge. This is one of the great coaches. A modest, unassuming man, who it is mistakenly believed manages with little more than that raised left eyebrow. Yet in just one game, his wingers took Chelsea’s full backs out. Chilwell will not appear at Stamford Bridge and Cucurella has already been exposed; James would not be human if he is not feeling trepidation at being reacquainted with Vinicius on Tuesday.

As for Ancelotti, there is the possibility of one more year at Real, yet he’s coming to the end of his second season, and even successful coaches at the Bernabeu do not tend to get many more. If Brazil beckons – the equivalent of a Frenchman being summoned to coach the All Blacks – few would deserve the accolade more.

- The Times

Originally published as Martin Samuel: Why Carlo Ancelotti would be a perfect fit as Brazil’s first full-time foreign coach