Carlo Ancelotti has seen it all. If you think that the Real Madrid team he coached last year was the most talented team he has ever managed, then you haven’t heard of the AC Milan sides of the mid 2000s. Yes, the 2014/15 version of Real Madrid had Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, and Toni Kroos; yes, all of those players could be the best player at a top club. But, Ancelotti has been dealing with players of such quality for the majority of his career.
Photo: Zonal Marking
He coached the World Player of the Year, Kaka, who had 104 goals and 54 assists under him. He commanded arguably the best center-back pairing of all time in Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini. He channelled the talents of a midfield that could rival Guardiola’s Barcelona in Rui Costa, Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo, and Gennaro Gattuso. He coached Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, Hernan Crespo and Andriy Shevchenko, even Didier Drogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Carlo Ancelotti, in good company. Photo: @Stubbornmanager
Ancelotti knows talent — he knows greatness — so when he backs Cristiano Ronaldo to outperform Lionel Messi, it means something.
"I know Cristiano really well, and if I were a gambling man, I'd bet on him to be La Liga's top scorer this term. He notched up 61 goals under me last year. It was incredible. Only the greatest players in the history of the game can boast those kinds of stats. Spain is really lucky to have both Messi and him playing football there.”
Carlo Ancelotti believes that Ronaldo will outscore Messi in La Liga this year. Cristiano Ronaldo is part of a very good attack, but make no mistake, Barcelona’s is better. In their first year together, with Luis Suarez missing two months, Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr. and Suarez scored 120 goals between themselves in all competitions. There is every reason to believe that their output will only increase in their second year together, which means more goals for Messi. Ronaldo only scored 5 more league goals than Messi last year, and is over two years older than the Argentine. For Ancelotti to be so certain that Ronaldo will outscore Messi is nothing less than a stunning show of belief.
We will see if Ancelotti put his faith in the right place. Ronaldo has always been second best to Messi. He may have won the Ballon d’Or two years in a row, but the common sentiment is that he did so only because Messi was having off years; Ronaldo was not beating the best Messi had. Should Ronaldo outscore Messi, he will not displace Messi as the best in the world, but he just might make some believe that he should.
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