Guardiola revolutionised football, but Ancelotti is the best in the World – Lippi

Marcello Lippi says that Pep Guardiola revolutionised football, but Carlo Ancelotti is currently the best Coach around.

The 67-year-old released an extensive interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport, in which he commended the decision to announce Guardiola’s signing for Manchester City as early as December.

“What alternative would there be?” he asked. “A headline per day on him at City and Ancelotti to Bayern? It’s much more professional to communicate that right away.

“After so many years, he’s given everything and he wants to change. Does anyone think that his players will be less driven than before? Let’s be serious.

“Guardiola as the first revolution since Arrigo Sacchi? Certainly. He created and coached the strongest team ever, Barcelona, who won everything, including two Euros and a World Cup with their players.

“He gave an important contribution to the history of football. Today he’s one of the two-three best coaches in the world.

“Though the number one is someone else: Ancelotti, there’s no-one like him. He gained some excellent experience as a footballer, and later again as a Coach next to Sacchi.

“He won in every championship and he’ll do that again in Germany. Most importantly, there’s not a single player who ever talked unfavourably about him. That takes quality and football culture.”

Lippi noticed a parallel with Azzurri Coach Antonio Conte.

“He fielded the 4-2-4, like in his beginnings, and he worked a lot on the 4-3-3, with a lot of movements and inside runs for the strikers, which are perfect for [Graziano] Pelle.

“You can tell that there’s a tremendous amount of work behind that. I spoke with him and his ideas are extremely clear, and he wishes to pass them on.

“He is now what he used to be as a player: a leader who sets the example. And he has important technical-tactical knowledge.”

Finally, the 67-year-old discussed some of the most prominent coaches in Serie A at the moment.

“[Napoli’s Maurizio] Sarri undid a common prejudice, proving that in only three months you can convey your ideas and charm your players, from [Gonzalo] Higuain down to the last one of them. Napoli last year scored 70 goals, but conceded more than 50.

“[Fiorentina’s Paulo] Sousa in certain moments showed the most spectacular football, brilliant and vertical, and he must have some great communication skills if he was able to get everyone to love him in Florence even though he’s a former Juventino.

“[Sassuolo’s Eusebio] Di Francesco plays an extremely organised football, athletic, aggressive, modern and surprising.

“Sassuolo understood it was a dumb move to sack him,” he said, in reference to the fact that Di Francesco was dismissed and then re-signed at the beginning of 2014.

“[Sinisa] Mihajlovic? There are teams that changed a great deal, like Milan, Inter, and Juve. It isn’t always possible to find the heart of the problem right away. But the Rossoneri team is very unified and driven.”