Carlo Ancelotti has a cute phrase for how he felt when he was head coach of Juventus. He had the sensation, he recalls in his memoir, “of being a mere bolt in much bigger machine, just another employee.”
He was rarely comfortable during his 15 months in charge there, he said.
The Juventus machine that rolls into Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium tonight looks like it has a few bolts loose, amid unusual symptoms of malfunction.
Defeat at Fiorentina on Sunday, 4-2 after going two goals ahead, was a shock for the defending Serie A champions. They are still seeking their first win in Europe this season, too, after managing only two points so far from a group that includes both Ancelotti’s Madrid and Roberto Mancini’s Galatasaray.
Worse, Juve have injury problems and are deprived of strikers Mirko Vucinic and Fabio Quagliarella, as well as right wing-back Stephan Lichtsteiner.
Ancelotti, with Xabi Alonso and Gareth Bale back, will pick from a Madrid close to full strength.
But Ancelotti will eye with suspicion the idea of a wobbling Juve.
He knows the Turin club’s coach intimately.
Antonio Conte was his Juventus captain when he took over the coaching position there in 1999, and it was then that Ancelotti formed a lasting impression of Conte’s determination.
“He is a hammer,” Ancelotti said, picking another industrial metaphor. A hammer might be a more powerful tool in the Juventus machine than a mere bolt.
Ancelotti will also recognise the position in which Conte finds himself. The Juventus that “Carletto”, as his friends call Ancelotti, took over had just won successive scudetti league titles. He was a young coach, not yet 40, and the pressure to maintain high standards would be considerable.
Conte, now 44, has set his own elevated benchmark with Juventus’ domestic domination under his watch.
Ancelotti’s turn-of-the-millennium Juve struggled, notably in Europe. Despite an away goal from none other than Conte against Manchester United in a Uefa Champions League semi-final, giving them a first-leg cushion, they squandered their chance to reach the final with a dramatic collapse in Turin, blowing a two-goal lead to lose 3-2.
Juve fans never quite forgave Ancelotti for that. He left a year later, going on to success at AC Milan, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.
Conte has a deeper bank of credit with Juve than Ancelotti ever did, but the weekend’s setback has sowed deeper doubts than he has yet experienced. A trip to Madrid, and a meeting with his old boss, is about the least soothing follow-up he could imagine.
sports@thenational.ae
