Infinite Possibilities

🚨 Jose Mourinho on choosing between Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola: “Carlo Ancelotti. And I'll tell you why. People look at Carlo's career and count Champions Leagues. I look at Everton. Yes, Everton. This man had managed Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Napoli. He had worked with Maldini, Pirlo, Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Modric, Drogba and Lampard. Then one day, Carlo Ancelotti decided to manage Everton. I remember hearing the news and thinking, ‘Carlo, what happened?’ Not because Everton isn't a historic club. But I imagine somebody explaining the project. ‘Carlo, we want to compete with the biggest clubs in England.’ ‘Good.’ ‘But we cannot promise Champions League football.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘And we cannot promise you the players you had at Real Madrid.’ ‘I know.’ ‘So why are you interested?’ And Carlo probably just smiled. That's what fascinates me. He didn't arrive at Goodison Park behaving like a man doing Everton a favour. He took the job seriously. And he brought James Rodriguez . James Rodriguez ! A footballer who had played for him at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Imagine being James. ‘James, I have a project for you.’ ‘Where, Mister? Real Madrid?’ ‘No.’ ‘Bayern?’ ‘No.’ ‘Where?’ ‘Everton.’ I would have loved to hear the silence after that. But James went. That tells you something about Carlo. His reputation doesn't disappear when he leaves a famous club. He can walk into Everton and convince a footballer who has played at the Bernabeu that Goodison Park is worth experiencing. That's a different kind of power. Now compare that with Pep Guardiola. I've competed against him enough to know he’s tactical. But Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City are environments where winning major trophies is already expected. Carlo has experienced that pressure too. Then he voluntarily walked into a club where finishing 7th might be considered progress. He went from trying to win the Champions League to trying to qualify for European football. And Everton wasn't even the end. He returned to Real Madrid and won 2 more Champions Leagues. Imagine that. One season you're trying to get Everton into Europe. A few years later you're standing at Wembley with another Champions League trophy. Then Brazil calls. And Carlo goes to manage Brazil. At some point, you have to appreciate how extraordinary that journey is. 🗣️ Reporter: ‘So you believe Carlo is greater than Guardiola?’ ‘I believe Carlo has answered questions Pep hasn't been asked yet.’ And Sir Alex Ferguson is another manager I admire enormously. Ferguson proved himself at Aberdeen before building Manchester United into an empire. Carlo proved himself at Europe's biggest clubs, then showed he wasn't too big to manage somewhere else. Pep has achieved great things. But I'd love to see him accept a job where the first question isn't, ‘Can you win the Champions League?’ It's, ‘Can you get us into Europe?’ Because Carlo did that. And the remarkable thing? When Real Madrid called again, Carlo didn't need to rebuild his reputation. He'd never lost it. That's why I choose Ancelotti. Not because he won trophies at Everton. He didn't. But because he could manage Everton, return to Real Madrid, win two more Champions Leagues and then become Brazil's manager. And somehow, Everton doesn't even look out of place on his CV. It looks like something only Carlo Ancelotti would do.”