Ancelotti slammed by former Madrid star: 'He doesn't develop players!'
Martin Macdonald
- 15 Apr 2022 15:51 BST
- 3 min read
Former Real Madrid star Antonio Cassano believes Carlo Ancelotti was "lucky" that Los Blancos managed to qualify for the Champions League semi-final.
In the summer of 2021, Ancelotti completed a surprise return to Madrid as head coach following an unsuccessful period in charge of Everton.
In his first tenure at Santiago Bernabeu, he won a Champions League, the Copa del Rey and the Club World Cup.
His second time is proving successful, too, as Madrid are current in pole position to win La Liga, while they recently reached the last four of the Champions League.
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In order to qualify in Europe, Real Madrid defeated Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16 and Chelsea in the quarter-final stage.
In the second leg against Chelsea this week, they actually went 3-0 down against Chelsea, but took the tie to extra time thanks to a late goal from Rodrygo.
In extra time, Karim Benzema scored to make the aggregate score 5-4 as Madrid narrowly progressed.
Cassano thinks Ancelotti was lucky at the results, and also believes the Italian has never developed a player.
What did Cassano say?
“Real Madrid played badly against Chelsea and PSG, he [Ancelotti] was really, really lucky. But luck will end sooner or later,” Cassano told Bobo TV on Twitch.
“Real Madrid don’t play well in La Liga, Barcelona had a bad start, but now it’s a different story. Ancelotti makes players feel well, but I can’t remember one who developed under him.”
Cassano joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2006 after falling out with Roma, but quickly received criticism for gaining weight.
He would subsequently clash with new Madrid boss Fabio Capello in the 2006/07 season.
The Italian made 29 La Liga appearances for Madrid and scored just four goals before returning to Serie A with Sampdoria.
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