Carlo Ancelotti waded into the debate regarding the quality of football following Manchester City’s tense clash against Atletico Madrid and he compared Luka Modric to Paolo Maldini.
The return leg of the Champions League quarter-final between the two sides has sparked a debate about the beauty of football, with many fans incredibly unhappy with Atletico’s physical and defensive play style, instead preferring the more free flowing style seen under Pep Guardiola.
Speaking in a press conference today, Ancelotti discussed the debate following Manchester City’s tense win over Atletico.
“I will answer with a question: what does it mean to play well? Everyone has their own opinion, mine is to do well in both the possession and non-possession phases.
“If you have a good defensive phase, or even a very good one, it doesn’t mean you’re playing well if you don’t do anything when you have the ball. Football is about attacking and defending. You can do it with a low centre of gravity, a medium centre of gravity or with high pressure.
“That’s football for me and nobody can change that. I listen a lot. But I think Atletico defended very, very well against City but they could have done more with the ball. But the defensive phase was very very good.”
Ancelotti then discussed the similarities between Modric and Maldini.
“Modric will finish his career here, that’s what we all think. We are talking about a player who has not suffered serious injuries and who protects himself a lot.
“In terms of quality, seriousness and way of living football, I could compare him to Maldini. They are football legends.”
Some fans have complained about Ancelotti’s coaching style over the years due to the fact that he doesn’t have a perceived style in the same vein as Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp.
Despite this, he is on course to become the first coach to win the league title in all of Europe’s top five leagues, and he’s also the first coach to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League in four different decades.
#Ancelotti: “Guardiolismo o Cholismo? Io ho un mio stile di gioco e non cambio idea”https://t.co/WpQnolZqkE
— CalcioNapoli1926.it (@cn1926it) April 16, 2022