Ancelotti talks about working with Abramovich and compares him to Berlusconi

For many, Carlo Ancelotti’s stint at London’s Chelsea is already a distant memory, but the Italian manager himself decided to revisit his Stamford Bridge days in his autobiography.

Details: The Champions League-winning coach with AC Milan emphasized that his performance at Chelsea was measured primarily by success in Europe, as owner Roman Abramovich made clear to him. At the same time, Ancelotti remembered the Russian oligarch as being even more demanding than AC Milan boss Silvio Berlusconi.

Quote: “I knew that my track record would only take me so far. Abramovich made it clear he wanted me to win the Champions League with Chelsea and for Chelsea to develop its own identity on the pitch.

But now I was working for a Russian oligarch, and I suddenly realized he expected everything to always go perfectly. If not, he wanted to know why. And it was my job to provide answers.

That was the moment—after the 1-3 defeat to Wigan—when, for the first time, a shadow was cast over my time at the club. The next morning, Abramovich came to the training ground and demanded explanations. What went wrong? I had never experienced that level of scrutiny from Berlusconi.

He was a demanding owner—sometimes signing players I didn’t need and expecting me to fit them into the team or debate tactics. But most of the time he was the Prime Minister of Italy, so there was no micromanagement. He had bigger things on his mind.”