25 September 2025
Italian Carlo Ancelotti, the coach of the Brazilian national team, confirmed that nothing in his coaching career was comparable to working with Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, the former owner of English club Chelsea.
Ancelotti has a stellar career with clubs such as Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, and Real Madrid, meaning he worked under former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, as well as Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, and Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid.
But in his autobiography, "The Dream - Winning the Champions League," the 66-year-old Italian coach, the only man to win the Champions League five times as a coach, revealed how the Russian Abramovich was a "shadow" looming over him during his two years at Stamford Bridge. Ancelotti joined Chelsea in 2009 and won the domestic double in his first season, before being sacked 12 months later at Goodison Park after finishing runners-up to Manchester United in the Premier League and being eliminated by the same team in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Ancelotti explained, "Abramovich wanted me to win the Champions League with Chelsea and for the team to establish its identity on the pitch. I was working with a Russian businessman, and I suddenly realized he expected things to go well all the time, and if they didn't, he wanted to know why. My job was to provide answers."
Ancelotti recalled that he had only been in charge for a few weeks when a new reality dawned on him after a shock 3-1 defeat. He said, "At that moment, the first shadow of my career at the club loomed. Abramovich was at the training ground the next morning demanding answers: What had gone wrong?" "I've never been subjected to this level of scrutiny from Berlusconi," Ancelotti told The Sun. "He was a demanding owner, sometimes buying players I didn't need and expecting me to integrate them into the team or discuss technical matters with him... but he was the prime minister of Italy and had more important things to think about."
