Carlo Ancelotti has managed some extraordinary footballers -- and a dream team of ex-players, his beloved Christmas tree with every position occupied by one of the greats of the modern era would be pretty damn tasty -- but none of them have been quite so brilliant as Cristiano Ronaldo.
So says Ancelotti himself. The Real Madrid manager was asked this week whether Ronaldo was the best player he has coached. "Without wanting to show a lack of respect to anyone ... yes," he replied. "Cristiano is the best I have worked with."
Yet here is a player so good, whose achievements are so mind-bendingly brilliant, whose statistics are so absurd and who will almost certainly leave Madrid having broken every goal-scoring record at the world's biggest club that few would challenge Ancelotti's assessment. Until, perhaps, another former player of his is added to that list: Zinedine Zidane.
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As Ancelotti himself put it: "At Juventus, I had the chance to meet one of the best players in the world and, without doubt, the best that I have coached. He was a special player who cannot be compared to anyone. He was Zidane, and that's it." Ancelotti wrote that in his 2013 book "Il mio Albero di Natale." He wrote it before arriving at Real Madrid; now, just over a year later and having won Madrid's 10th European Cup, he says he has found someone who compares to Zidane. Someone who surpasses him, even.
When the recording from the news conference was played back on Tuesday night, the former Real Madrid assistant coach Angel Cappa responded: "What else could he say?" Cappa may well prefer Zidane, a player who fits more closely with his own very particular aesthetic footballing predilections, but he had a point, and it is a broader point.
Ancelotti had been put on the spot in a news conference. On one level, his response was conditioned, of course. Maybe even inevitable. A manager has to please those who do play for him; he does not have to please those who did. Most players need to feel appreciated, and Ronaldo is no exception. Had Ancelotti said "no," he might have provoked an unnecessary problem. He might also have caused a storm in the media that could then have had repercussions in the club; like Barcelona, Real Madrid cannot live in a vacuum, even if they wanted to.
Witness the often absurd FIFA World Player vote, for example, when players and managers play politics depressingly often, and when, knowing their vote is public, some mark their ballot paper with choices that are expedient rather than accurate. Witness the response to it, when finishing second appears as something to be ashamed of -- like being the second-best player in the world makes you rubbish, like being fantastic is a failure. Witness how the focus is too often on the slight, not the celebration. Even though it is not slight at all.
Look at how players often squirm when asked for something as simple as an opinion on who the best player is; he can already see the headlines if he gives the "wrong" answer, so he names his teammate. Can you imagine a Madrid player not saying Ronaldo is the best player in the world? Can you imagine a Barcelona player not saying that Lionel Messi is? Marcelo Bielsa put it best: "The problem with choosing the best is that instead of looking like a eulogy of the one you name, it becomes a criticism of the one you didn't."
Ancelotti began his answer this week with: "Without wanting to lack respect to anyone ..." -- it was sad that he should have to. More damaging would have been "lacking respect" to Ronaldo. But working with Ronaldo is also a reason to see more value in Ancelotti's reply, rather than less. Ancelotti's extraordinary history, his roll call of brilliant players, means that for him to say this does matter. As compliments go, it is a massive one. Meaningful, too.
We all know all of that. Ancelotti knows more than that. Ancelotti sees what lies behind it: the talent, sure, but also the ambition that drives Ronaldo on. The professionalism, the work, the attitude, the sheer relentlessness. He knows that Ronaldo's success is not fluke; it is not even just a matter of natural talent. This is a man who has had an ice chamber installed in his home, someone whose desire to improve never wavers, a man who will never be satisfied. And so the admiration grows, even from someone who has worked with players like Maldini, Alonso or Pirlo.
"He is very professional, very serious; he fights. He is a leader who does not talk much but who is very important," Ancelotti said. These were not empty words. His assistant coach Paul Clement once admitted that during a training session soon after they had arrived in Madrid, he and Ancelotti looked at each other open-mouthed. "We had done [the same drill] at all three clubs [Chelsea, PSG, Madrid] and ... we couldn't believe the level that they had achieved here," he said.
In Ronaldo's case, it was no coincidence. While others head home and crawl into bed, Ronaldo keeps on working. "Cristiano is a senior player now and he has had a great upbringing. He really manages himself well -- really well," Clement explains. "There was a game I remember that we got back at 3 in the morning and he went and had an ice bath. Another time, it was 6 in the morning. We had come back from Istanbul and there he is with the physio -- at 6am."
After Madrid's 2-1 victory at Ludogorets in Bulgaria this week, Ronaldo was asked about what Ancelotti had said. He had scored one penalty and had another one saved. There was a flight to catch and recovery work to be done, but first he spoke to the press. "His words were very nice, because they come from someone who has won it all and coached the best players," Ronaldo said. "I said thank you and he replied that all he did was tell the truth."
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