Like Real Madrid won while Carlo Ancelotti dosvated in the stands

At the final whistle, a curious situation occurred in the technical area of ​​Real Madrid: the assistant coach Francesco Mauri grabbed Davide Ancelotti and shook him hard.

But it was far from an angry moment.

Before a vital match of the Champions League against Arsenal, where they will try to return from a 3-0 defeat in the first stage, Real Madrid obtained a precious victory at Casa Mendizorroza of Alaves thanks to a single goal by Eduardo Camavinga.

With seven games to do and a Clasico left in La Liga, Barcelona leads the ranking with 70 points, four more than Madrid. But beyond the joy of staying alive in the race for the championship, the triumph was special for the Ancelotti family.

Suspended for the accumulation of yellow tickets, collecting his fifth season in the 2-1 defeat of his team in Valencia the last time, the manager Carlo had to look at the game from the stands and was replaced by his son Davide.

“At the beginning I was a little nervous, like every first time, but then it was a total joy,” said the same assistant coach Davide in the press conference.

Here, Atletico He tells the story about how things were different for Madrid without their graduate coach … and with his son at the helm.

Carlo Ancelotti is known to be a calm man, so it is difficult to remember many games without him on the bench. However, there are precedents.

In 2019, in Naples, Davide had to intensify at least a couple of occasions, taking on media duties during a 1-1 draw against Sassuolo, also supervising a match against Rome (a loss of 2-1) while his father was suspended.

In 2022, already in Madrid, the young assistant had to intensify Celta Vigo again after Carlo contracted Covid-19. At that time, Davide did not have a coaching license, therefore “officially”, the coach’s head was Abian Perdomo (the head of the methodology of the Club Academy, who held that title).

For a long time, however, Ancelotti’s son was praised internally to the club.

Davide Ancelotti supervised Madrid’s victory over Alaves (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Gestaty Images)

Although he retired as a professional footballer at the age of 20, he was part of his father’s technical staff since they were in Paris Saint-Germain in 2012.

After his second spell in Madrid, Davide started taking the coach assistant at the center of the scene.

The 35 -year -old usually leads training sessions to the first team with Mauri, someThe thing that is always evident during the Club US tours when they open the entire press training session, but you can also see during the games, with the couple who constantly offers support for Carlo.

In the days preceding the visit to Alaves, sources of Madrid staff, who prefer not to be appointed to protect their positions, say that both Carlo and Davide have prepared the plans for the game together and have held a joint speech to the players in their hotels in Vitoria.

But as soon as they arrived at the stadium, Davide took the center of the scene. Unlike his father, he took the field during heating and gave constant instructions.

There were also other differences in Mendizorroza. According to Club sources, the fitness coach Antonio Pintus was absent due to personal problems and was replaced by his assistant Giuseppe Bellistri.

On the other hand, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior were rested while Madrid revolved his team in front of the Arsenal match and starting Arda Guler was the bet of the coach staff.

That’s why Davide was particularly attentive to the Turkish striker midfielder, giving him orders during the game, especially in the first few minutes when he fell to the ground in a striker game and was slow to get up to defend himself.

Eduardo Camavinga marks the only goal of the game (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

The first phases were very difficult for Madrid, who had an infinite number of inaccuracies that tried to play short of their area.

Although he never got him in the game, Davide called with gestures and whistles to continue running risks.

“Let’s try again”, the Italian gesture every time Thibaut Courtois had the ball at his feet.

After several combinations, two possibilities in a row from Rodrygo announced Madrid’s momentum. Finally, on 34 minutes Camavinga made 1-0 with a strike from the outside.

Just four minutes later, Kylian Mbappe has been expelled for an ill -worse challenge on Antonio Blancocapturing the Alaves midfielder at the top of his leg with his stallions.

But even after that setback, Davide did not lose his calm: his way of managing the moments of tension is another of thequakes that are most praised in Valdebebas and was evident when he spent some time speaking with the substitute of Dani Ceballos on tactical issues immediately after sending, all while the tension in the technical area was still high.

“It was all very natural … my father has always given me much confidence, he doesn’t need to tell me anything,” Davide said in his post-match press conference. “Today we had the communication but it allowed me to manage the last few minutes and I’m not surprised.”

Carlo followed the game with the analysts of Team Simone Montanaro and Alvaro Gomar in a box located a few meters from where President Florentino Perez sat.

Despite the distance from the field, Carlo communicated his ideas to Montanaro, who, through an internal communication system, quickly sent them to Mauri, who discussed with Davide.

“From above, it always seems different,” said a staff member Atletico After the game. “Everything seems easier and becomes more nervous.”

To combat anxiety in the box, Carlo smoked his electronic cigarette.

A few minutes after-even if it is not clear if it were due to the Madrid-the speaker coach of the Mendizorroza, he accidentally announced that the stadium was a “smoke-free space”.

Kylian Mbappe, in the center, focuses on Cesar’s referee, then the rank (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

In the second half, Davide did not delay the changes and in the 62nd minute, Bellingham and Vinicius arrived (replacing Guler and Rodrygo).

At the 70th minute, a red card for Manchez’s Manchez of Alaves for passing Vinicius as he ran to the door left both teams with 10 men and equalized things.

Davide then focused on the insertion of his men to look for the medium and long range passages to his attackers, taking advantage of their speed. The Italian also asked his attackers, several times, to support his defense in the transitions of their opponents and even temporarily annoyed himself with Vinicius.

When an arbitrage decision was to be protested, he was the expert coach of the goalkeeper, Luis Llopis, who was called in action so that Davide was at risk of punishment.

And in the 92nd minute, Madrid decided to take to Ceballos to waste time, while Davide himself admitted to a press conference.

Alaves had the possibility until the end and not only beat Madrid in possession (56 percent) but also in shots on goal (from six to four in Madrid) and in the precision phase (88% to 84% of Madrid), but Los Blancos managed to resist without Carlo.

“The victory gives confidence, it was what we were looking for here … and we knew it wouldn’t have been easy,” said Davide.

“What happened has made a little more complicated, but this result gives a lot of confidence for what happened Tuesday (in the Champions League) … and for what we want to happen on Wednesday.”

Looking forward to the game of Arsenal, Madrid’s technical staff know that their future is in the air. Whatever happens, the Madridist have already found a great coaching project for the future and his name is Davide.

(Photo Top: Getty Images)