One man who’s no stranger to Champions League success has revealed that his ‘dream’ job was to be manager of Liverpool, but instead he ended up elsewhere on Merseyside.
Among the more surprising managerial appointments in the Premier League in recent years was Everton luring Carlo Ancelotti to Goodison Park midway through the 2019/20 season, where he remained for 18 months before a triumphant return to Real Madrid.
He faced LFC with Los Blancos earlier this season and showed the Merseyside giants plenty of respect before the fixture, which ended in a 2-0 win for Arne Slot’s side.
Ancelotti opens up about Liverpool ‘dream’
When reflecting on what has been an enormously successful coaching career (including five European Cups and six domestic league titles), the 65-year-old admitted that his ultimate ambition had been to manage at Anfield.
Speaking with Italian journalist Armando Ceroni on Swiss station RSI, Ancelotti explained: “My dream was to coach Liverpool, but then I found myself at Everton and I experienced their rivalry, and now I am absolutely an Everton fan.
“I really liked the environment, because there is a spectacular passion for the colours. You also notice the suffering that the fans have for Liverpool, which for many years and still today is the best in the Premier League.”
Ancelotti would’ve been a success at Liverpool, but Jurgen Klopp most certainly was!
Although Ancelotti has never managed Liverpool, he’s faced the Reds 20 times with five different clubs across his coaching career, achieving 11 wins (including two in Champions League finals, although he says he’s still haunted by Istanbul 2005!).
His record in Europe is without equal in the modern era, while he’s also the only man to win each of the continent’s five main leagues as a manager, having done so with AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
No club in the world wouldn’t want a coach of his extraordinary CV, although Reds fans needn’t have any regrets that when the 65-year-old came to Merseyside, it was to the blue half of the city.
Over the past decade, we’ve been truly blessed to have had Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield dugout, leaving a legacy which’ll endure with Liverpool fans for generations to come, and so far the appointment of Arne Slot as his successor has looked like a masterstroke.
We wouldn’t say no to having Ancelotti in the future, but having said that his dream was (not is) to manage LFC and that he’s now a fully-fledged Evertonian, we don’t envisage the current Real Madrid boss taking charge of the six-time champions of Europe one day.
