Davide Ancelotti: “I like watching Barça”

“I like watching Barça,” Davide Ancelotti said. The Lille coach, a former member of Real Madrid’s technical staff alongside his father Carlo Ancelotti, clarified in an interview with As: “Of course I like watching Barça when they play.” Referring to the Clásicos he experienced, he added: “And I suffered through them.”

His interest also extends to the team’s style. He likes its vertical football and praised Raphinha’s movements up front, as well as the passes that send a forward into space. “I like seeing Raphinha as a number 9. I like the runs he makes… But, of course, you need a forward who attacks space and a midfielder who can put the ball there perfectly,” he explained.

Davide Ancelotti also outlined the risks of pressing high. “It is obvious that it is always more difficult to press high,” he said. In his view, the challenge stems in part from the quality of opponents’ build-up play: “Today, almost all teams play the ball out very well, and you have to press with equal numbers. You take a lot of risks, especially against opponents with fast players who run in behind. To press high, you have to be confident and trust your defenders. You leave them one against one, and they have to win their duels at the back.”

Asked about the influence Barça under Pep Guardiola had beyond the pitch, he noted that the shift towards possession had also taken hold elsewhere: “It happened to us in Italy; possession football began to develop. And it happened in Germany.”

In his view, the teams setting the standard today give major importance to defensive work. He pointed to Champions finalists Arsenal and PSG, whose styles differ but are built, he said, on a strong defensive identity. He summed up his conviction this way: “For me, the latest trend is that you have to defend well, full stop.”

He also stressed that vertical football is not simply about making more runs: it requires a player who can send forwards away. Speaking about Madrid, he was careful to add: “I don’t want everything I say about Madrid to be interpreted as criticism.” He observed that Modric and Kroos could find the ball with every run into space. “Vertical does not mean having eight runners; it also means having someone who can launch them. It’s a way of playing.”