Real Madrid ended La Liga’s title competition with a 4-0 victory over Espanyol on Saturday, guaranteeing Carlo Ancelotti became the first manager in history to win all five of Europe’s top titles.
Although the Italian coach failed to win a league title during his first tenure at the Santiago Bernabeu, he has guided them to national triumph in his first season back in charge.
After failing to win Serie A in his home Italy throughout his formative years as a manager with Reggiana, Parma, and Juventus, Ancelotti eventually won the championship with AC Milan in 2004 with a record 82 points from 34 games.
Ancelotti departed Milan in 2009 after winning the league’s lone title and joined Chelsea the following summer. The Blues won the Premier League in his first season, becoming the first side in the English top division since Tottenham in 1962/63 to reach the century mark.
While Ancelotti was a popular figure at Chelsea, he was fired at the end of his second season after a poor campaign fell short of the club’s expectations.
He subsequently took a six-month break before taking over as manager of Paris Saint-Germain, and while he was unable to rescue their floundering 2011/12 championship quest, he did lead them to Ligue 1 gold the following year, just before Real Madrid made their first approach.
Ancelotti became the manager who ultimately won Real Madrid their tenth Champions League – dubbed ‘La Decima’ – although he was beaten to La Liga that season by Atletico Madrid and subsequently Barcelona, before departing Spain in 2015.
Following a year away from football, Ancelotti joined Bayern Munich in 2016 and cruised to the Bundesliga title in his only full season in Bavaria.
After unsuccessful spells with Napoli and Everton, Ancelotti was recalled to the Bernabeu to succeed former assistant coach and player Zinedine Zidane, and has now won his first domestic title in five years, cementing his legacy as the first manager to complete European football’s elite set of league titles.
