After leaving Real Madrid, Ancelotti took six months off before quickly finding a new job.
Half a year later, he would officially replace Guardiola, who was about to leave for Man City, and become Bayern Munich's Head Coach.
This had been easy to predict for some time. It could already be guessed when Guardiola refused to renew his contract with Bayern Munich.
Man City had invested heavily over the years and had kept pursuing Guardiola relentlessly. They had even poached Ferran Soriano, who had once given Guardiola his big break at Barcelona, and Technical Director Begiristain, both former Barcelona executives, from Barcelona for Guardiola's sake. Their purpose was to pave the way for Guardiola in advance.
It could be said that at this point, it came as no surprise that Man City had landed Guardiola.
This summer, the Manchester giants would probably both change managers. Van Gaal would likely find it difficult to remain at Manchester United, while Pellegrini would be replaced by Guardiola. Although that might sound unfair, professional football was simply that cruel.
As for Ancelotti, he was preparing to go to Bayern Munich and replace Guardiola.
But at that moment, as he attended the FIFA Golden Ball Award ceremony, the Italian's identity was still that of Real Madrid's former Head Coach.
As Real Madrid's highly accomplished Head Coach—one could even say the most successful Head Coach in the club's history—Ancelotti was also held in extremely high regard throughout European Football. This had brought him both fame and fortune, as well as a nomination for FIFA's Best Men's Coach award. There was basically no suspense about him winning it.
Although he had left Real Madrid half a year earlier, Ancelotti's relationship with the Real Madrid players remained excellent.
Even Yang Yang had once had some differences in