"Zidane changed my idea about football" - Ancelotti confesses

From Left: Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti. Zidane played for Juventus from 1996 - 2001. He won two Serie A titles with Juventus. Ancelotti is an Italian former professional footballer. He managed Juventus for two years, from 1991 - 2001. In February '99, Ancelotti was appointed Juve Manager, he became less rigorous with his formation and abandoned his favoured 4-4-2 in order to accommodate star French playmaker Zinedine Zidane in his preferred free role. After finishing his second season at Juventus without a trophy, and finished second in the Serie A after Roma, he was sacked by the club. Photos of Zidane and Ancelotti: Getty

Carlo Ancelotti says he learned how ‘the club has to work for the manager’ at Juventus and that Zinedine Zidane ‘changed my idea about football’.


Ancelotti managed Juve between 1999 and 2001 with little success, but his tenure was notable as he had Zidane at his disposal and it acted as a springboard to two Champions Leagues with Milan.

“With Zidane, I tried to change my idea about the system,” the Everton boss told Sky Sports.

“Zidane is the first player who gave me the possibility to change the system and play in a different way.

“So when I had Zidane, in the first year at Juventus, I played with a system of 3-4-1-2, having [Alessandro] Del Piero and [Filippo] Inzaghi up front and Zidane a little bit behind. 

“The second year, I played with a back four but keeping two strikers in front and one No 10 like Zidane.

“Zidane changed my idea about football, I was so focused before Juventus on 4-4-2 and after with Zidane, I changed, I wanted to put him in the best position for him to let him be more comfortable on the pitch.

"The experience at Juventus was good in my opinion because I understood really well how the club has to work for the manager [coach] so the club gave to me a lot of support in this.

“It doesn't matter if they fired me at the end of the second year, until the last day in Juventus, I understood how the club has to work for the manager, to support them, to help them in front of the players, to give the manager the power that he needs to manage the players.”
Football-Italia