Carlo Ancelotti coached Gennaro Gattuso at AC Milan that won the Champions League twice. However matters soured between the two men who are Italy and Brazil coaches now, after a terrible misunderstanding that has left them both not speaking.
Goal.com recalled the entire sequence of events. ‘The duo had a great relationship until Gattuso took over the reins at Napoli after Ancelotti was fired. While Napoli CEO Aurelio Di Laurentiis was planning to sack Ancelotti, he held initial talks with Gattuso. When Ancelotti heard about the rumours, he contacted his former student, but Gattuso denied any such contact. A few days later, after defeating Genk in the Champions League, Ancelotti was fired and later on Gattuso was hired. The latter did not inform his former boss of his decision to take over. The situation escalated to such an extent that when Ancelotti came back to clear his locker, he avoided eye contact with Gattuso,’ goal.com wrote of the incident from six years ago.
However, recently Ancelotti’s daughter Katia said she wanted the duo to meet professionally at the upcoming World Cup, where both Ancelotti and Gattuso will be managing Brazil and Italy, respectively. That is of course, subject to Italy qualifying and not missing out a third time.
Goal.com quoted an interview with Corriere della Sera where Katia said: “They never spoke or saw each other again. Dad was upset and doesn’t pretend anything happened. Rino never called him again, they’ll probably see each other again at the World Cup, we all hope Italy goes there. A Brazil-Italy final would be great, the last one was in 1994, dad was Sacchi’s assistant. Where was Gattuso?!”
Brazil will play Senegal and Tunisia on November 15 and 18 in the next international break, while Gattuso faces a tougher task: Moldova on November 13 and Norway on November 16 in World Cup qualifying, to avoid the dreaded no-show.
Goal.com wrote that Katia might get to see an angry outburst from a man who she has only seen the calm side of. “I’d like to see him angry. Just once. On the pitch and in the locker room, it happens, they say. My brother Davide and my husband Mino talk about crazy outbursts, a version of dad I’m not familiar with. I’d like to see him like that in real life, sometimes. He doesn’t put himself out there. He never wants to displease anyone. A man who’s too calm is probably ahead of his time. He tends to avoid conflict, but every now and then you have to take a stand, which may not be right for everyone.”
While the two faced off when Ancelotti was Real Madrid manager and handled the mercurial Vinicius Jr, and Gattuso managed Valencia, the senior Italian hasn’t quite spoken at length about their equation. Goal.com quoted him as saying, “We had some very nice moments. We have had personal problems that I don’t want to talk about.” \
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Gattuso, said he had all-round respect for his former manager. “When I went to coach Napoli at that time, the press and television talked about the team being good and there was a problem. But he knows I respect him a lot. It was a work problem. We are talking about one of the best coaches in the world. For my part personally, humanly and footballistically, I have a lot of respect for him,” he was quoted in goal.com.
