Background of the break between Ancelotti and Gattuso

A phone call that didn’t come through and a lie via text. These are the reasons for the collapse of the twenty-year relationship between Carlo Ancelotti and Rino Gattuso. The two teams met yesterday in the Super Cup semi-finals, where Real Madrid beat Valencia on penalties. A cold hug before kick-off and nothing more, what happened earlier for Ancelotti was very painful.

The background told by Corriere della Sera goes back to the changing times on the Neapolitan bench. Ancelotti had known that his friend Gattuso was running to replace him and therefore sent a message to his former player: “Did De Laurentiis call you?”. The answer is firm and negative: “No, I’ll tell you if that’s the case.” But in fact, the president had already called him and a few days later, after the 4-0 defeat by Genk in the Champions League, De Laurentiis announced the arrival of Gattuso. No phone calls with Ancelotti, no confrontation. In Castelvolturno the two met without speaking, with Gattuso avoiding contact, further angering his former coach.

Three years have passed since that day and relations have not been restored, on the contrary, Ancelotti emphasized at the press conference “personal problems” with Gattuso, which led to a break that made noise. And to think a phone call was enough.