Ancelotti set to equal Ferguson record

It’s a historic night, even if it doesn’t feel like it. Nobody at yesterday’s press conference asked Carlo Ancelotti about the milestone he will reach when AC Milan visit the Bernabéu this evening. Visibly hurt by the catastrophe in Valencia, his mind was on other things anyway.

Tonight, Ancelotti will equal Sir Alex Ferguson as the coach to have overseen the most games in the entire history of the Champions League (including European Cup matches and preliminary rounds). It will be the 214th time that he will hear Tony Britten’s anthem while in the dugout - which is no mean feat. No other coach has reached 200 games in the Champions League era.

And what better place to overtake Fergie than Anfield - his 215th Champions League game will be against Liverpool on 27 November to take the record outright.

Carletto: King of kings

The football scriptwriter, one of the most capricious subjects that has ever known the face of the earth, has wanted this event to occur precisely against Milan, the other team that occupies his heart. He never tires of repeating that Real Madrid is “the greatest”, but then there are the Rossoneri - his beloved Rossoneri.

The rival tonight. And the one he will face for the first time in the Champions League. Immediate pursuer in the European Cup (7), but who only has two more than Carletto (5). And the fact is that Ancelotti is already the coach who has won this competition the most times. In fact, he is two ahead of Bob Paisley, Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola, all in second place with three titles each. Ancelotti is the king, but he needed to surpass Ferguson in games. Which he is about to do.

In front of his Milan

The same day he will try to topple the team for which he played 160 games and won nine titles (including two Champions Leagues - in 1989 and 1990 - as well as two Intercontinental Cups, two European Super Cups, two Leagues and an Italian Super Cup) and which he coached on 420 occasions, winning eight trophies (with another two Champions Leagues - in 2003 and 2007 - and, to top it off, a Club World Cup, two European Super Cups, a League, a Cup and an Italian Super Cup). The coach who has sat on the bench the most times: 171 more times than Capello, second. At San Siro he is a legend, an eminence.

What’s 65 years?

Like at the Santiago Bernabéu, where today he will equal an impressive Champions League record. Crowning one of those eight-thousanders so fearsome, that it seems utopian to attack them.

At 65 years old, Carletto continues at the pace of a sherpa and with a long way to go: he has renewed until 2026 and maintains that of “I want to stay at Real Madrid until they throw me out.” But it won’t be because of him. He goes on and on. This will be his 307th game in charge of Madrid - of which he has won 220 and counting.

Tonight will be his 214th night in the top club competition (between the Champions League and the European Cup). Bittersweet, strange. But historic, too. He will equal Ferguson. From Mister to Sir.