Former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, who won the Barclays Premier League and FA Cup double with the club in back in 2010, commended the Blues’ incoming manager and fellow Italian Antonio Conte’s leadership qualities in his blog post on The Telegraph today.
Conte led Italy to a tactically astute 2-0 victory over Belgium in their first match of Euro 2016 on Monday, sparking Ancelotti to reminisce on his days as Juventus manager, where Conte was an important player of his.
He said:
When I arrived at Juventus as the manager in 1999, Antonio Conte was the captain of the club, an Italy international and a player who had a lot of influence in the dressing room – and when I needed a leader in the team he was the obvious choice.
Ancelotti added that later on in the 2000/01 season, while Conte spent a lot of time out due to injury, he still remained influential and was keen to learn more about the game.
I knew that he was going to be a coach one day.
After finishing his playing career, Conte went on to manage five Italian clubs and even his own national team, and this summer he’ll be making the leap to the Premier League in the form of Chelsea.
There are certain things that he will not compromise on, and it will be the same when he comes to Chelsea. He wants all his players to follow him, and he wants a good team spirit. He is not afraid to tell the media what he thinks of their opinions either. In Conte’s philosophy, you are either with the team or you’re against them. There is no middle ground.
Conte’s Italy will take on Sweden in their second match of Euro 2016 tomorrow at 2 p.m. UK time.
