Real slip-up against Juventus may signal the end for Carlo Ancelotti

The first reaction, outside the madhouse that is Real Madrid, is one of incredulity. Carlo Ancelotti, the manager who won the Champions League last season and might retain it next month, has a fair chance of being sacked by the president, Florentino Perez. What?! Why? And how?

Welcome to the impossible-to-fathom world of Perez, who has taken expectation levels into a whole new orbit. He appointed Ancelotti at the beginning of last season but, after what had been a fight to get the Italian from Paris Saint-Germain, the impression quickly formed in Madrid that Perez preferred the chase to the reality of the working relationship.

He began to chunter behind the scenes and, when that happens, the headlines follow and the manager comes to live a do-or-die existence. Ancelotti went into the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid knowing defeat would have spelt the end. Sergio Ramos’ injury-time equaliser kept him in the job before Real eased to the trophy in extra time.

As Ancelotti prepares for the first leg of this season’s Champions League semi-final – against Juventus, the club he once managed, in Turin – the mood music has not changed.

If anything the volume has been turned up. Before the quarter-final second leg against Atletico last month, there were reports that Ancelotti would be sacked if Real lost. In March, there were similar stories 10 days before the league game at Barcelona.

Perez called a press conference after the pre-clasico controversy to deny the reports, meaning those in attendance were treated to the sight of a president attacking journalists he had surely briefed over a manager he no longer believed in. It summed up the contradictions of Perez’s tenure which have left even the battle-hardened Ancelotti baffled.

It should be said Real did lose the clasico and Ancelotti remained in situ although it is at the end of the season when his fate is expected to be decided. Zinedine Zidane, the coach of Real's second team, Castilla, is a leading candidate to take over.

Ancelotti’s team finished three points behind champions, Atletico, in third place last season – which was considered as abject failure – while they currently sit second, two points off the leaders, Barcelona, with three matches to play.

It is far from inconceivable Ancelotti will win the title and even add another Champions League. Yet uncertainty clings to his prospects.

Ancelotti is hardly a stranger to this cut-throat world. The story goes he was sacked by Juventus during half-time of the final game of the season while the club retained hopes of overhauling Roma and winning the title. In the end they fell short.

Ancelotti maintains the news was not given to him that day. The bullet was fired 24 hours later when he was informed Marcelo Lippi was on his way back as his successor.

Ancelotti would go on to Milan and achieve his revenge when he beat Lippi and Juventus in the 2003 Champions League final. It was the first of his three Champions League titles as a manager – the second also came with Milan, in 2007 – while he won two as a Milan player in 1989 and 1990.

Part of Ancelotti has had enough and another part of him wants to stay. But either way, the 55-year-old is phlegmatic and seldom betrays frustration in public. It was no different yesterday. “This is the Champions League,” he said. “If you have courage, you win. If you have fear, you lose.” Winning is the only thing he can do.

Andrea Pirlo, meanwhile, has admitted that winning the Champions League would be so special that it could persuade him to call time on his successful spell with Juventus.

Bianconeri adventure

The 35-year-old left Milan after 10 seasons to join the Old Lady in 2011 when many – his current coach,

Massimiliano Allegri

, probably included – thought his best days were long gone. He has proved everybody wrong, helping Juventus to four consecutive Serie A titles and orchestrating their return to the European elite.

As he prepares to face former mentor Ancelotti tonight, Pirlo admitted that a triumph in Berlin on June 6th would be the best possible finale for his Bianconeri adventure, even though his contract runs until June 2016.

“I hope this winning cycle will end with a Champions League triumph,” he said. “It would be a dream end for my spell here and a great day for everybody at the club. If we win it, I might move abroad because Juventus will be my last team in Italy.” Guardian Service