When I see non-Milan fans post this I usually let it go but it makes me sad to see even Milan fans buy this narrative. I grew up watching Carlo’s Milan and they will forever be my favourite side ever and it’s sad to see even Milan fans think Carlo did a bad job.
I just want to let you know that Ancelotti actually built that epic Milan team. He brought in the best in Kaka. He made the Christmas diamond formation famous pretty much and he literally made Pirlo an AM to a regista, a deep lying playmaker and that set Milan’s midfields for years. We were literally the most exciting team for years, the football we played was entertaining and the vibe as a team was incredible. Shevchenko and Inzaghi were literally brilliant under him. He’s the best forwards coach and he brought the best out in them. Sure he had financial backing but he still made it work. Ancelotti literally helped the likes of Kaka/Pirlo/Gattuso etc be the best players in the world at that point. They were always talented of course but he played a part in developing them and made them best.
On the statistical side, after our golden period in the late 80s and early 90s, Milan actually went through a slump. From 1996 till 2002 Milan ended mid table a couple of seasons and missed out in CL on another one. We won one league title in between but we couldn’t make it out of the CL group stages until Carlo Ancelotti came to Milan.
Our CL results for the 6 years before Carlo came: Group Stage (GS), DNP, DNP, GS, 2nd GS, DNP.
Enter Ancelotti: W, QF, F, SF, W, R16, DNP. For 5 years we were so good and so consistent in Europe. Carlo in his first full season with us won the CL
This also doesn’t take into account the nonsense Calciopoli corruption that Juventus did to win the league during this period. Inter as well who weren’t even punished and took advantage of the effects of it to dominate. See my screenshots where Milan was robbed in our title deciding match for the 2004-05 season. All of this played a big part in our lack of league titles.
In summary, respect Carlo Ancelotti and his work at Milan. It was incredible. Especially in Europe. What I’ll do for 5 consecutive years of being the best Team in CL and constantly making it deep. That happened under him.
When Milan won the 2007 champions league final, it was and still is literally on average the oldest team to ever win the champions league! Only Carlo Ancelotti would have been able to win the CL with such an ageing squad. We were literally suffering from the side effects of Calciopoli and Carlo Ancelotti still managed to win the CL with us, with an incredibly old squad. That’s just amazing management…