On the pitch, the team lost coherence. The dressing room – once unified by Ancelotti’s steady hand – began to fragment. Key players stopped listening to him, others grew weary of his hands-off approach.
Perhaps most destabilising was the rivalry between Vinicius and Mbappe. Both wanted to be the face of the team.
Mbappe preferred to play centrally, but Vinicius believed he had earned top billing. There was no open conflict, but the on-pitch dynamic spoke volumes. In critical moments, they did not look for each other. The tension was visible to staff and team-mates alike.
Ancelotti, usually the master of ego management, struggled and admitted privately it was one of the hardest changing rooms to manage in his career.
On some occasions, pre-match media briefings became short and irritable, with Ancelotti feeling he was not getting the club support he thought he deserved.
He had asked for right-back Kyle Walker in January to cover for long-term injuries to Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao, but the request was rejected.
Outwardly, the 65-year-old remained respectful. He repeated the same line, “I will stay at Madrid until the club no longer wants me.”
To fans, that echoed loyalty. But to Perez, it sounded like pressure.
Now, as the season nears its end, the Brazil job stands as Ancelotti’s next frontier.
Discussions with the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) have intensified, with meetings held in London and Madrid.
Brazil, amid a turbulent World Cup 2026 qualification campaign, had hoped to secure his signature immediately, but Ancelotti insisted “nothing until after the season ends”.
There is also a financial situation to resolve. Real might not want to pay the rest of his contract until 2026 as Ancelotti has shown, with those meetings, his desire to leave.
Ancelotti wants the club to recognise they are the ones letting him go and, consequently, he should have a pay-off.
The plan now is clear. Finish the La Liga season and, if the financial situation is resolved, allow someone else to coach at the Fifa Club World Cup, perhaps Santi Solari, one of the club’s decision-makers and a former player.
And then the club and manager will begin new chapters. This time it can be a graceful, fitting transition – if all the pieces fall into place.
One of the most interesting subplots is the future of assistant Davide Ancelotti.
The younger Ancelotti has built a formidable reputation alongside his father, from PSG to Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and now Real.
But with his profile higher than ever, and interest from top European clubs growing, this will be the moment he sets out on his own.
Davide has always dreamed of becoming a head coach. That decision, like many around the Madrid bench right now, remains pending – but imminent.
