The Real Madrid defender rates his current boss as one of the finest he’s work with, insisting the Italian’s skills of man-management set him apart from many of his contemporaries
Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos says he rates current coach Carlo Ancelotti as one of the very best he has had.
The Spain international has worked under some of the finest coaches the game has seen in recent memory, including Vicente Del Bosque, Fabio Capello and Joes Mourinho.
But Ramos says Ancelotti rates up there with the very best, insisting his man-mangement is what sets him apart from many of his contemporaries.
“He notices how a player settles in, whether he makes an effort to open up to his team-mates or not,” Ramos told Fifa.com.
“He’s a coach who takes you aside, talks to you and makes everything as smooth as possible, both on a professional and personal level.
“That’s the key to success, which is why he’s a truly great coach. In my view, he’s one of the two best I’ve had in my whole career.
“It’s hard to choose the other. There’s former Spain coach Luis Aragones, then you have former Sevilla coach Joaquin Caparros, who really believed in me when I was a nobody.”
Ramos went on to reveal he never expected Spain’s complete domination of international football to last forever, but has challenged anyone to match their “extraordinary” achievements.
Spain shed their tag of perineal underachievers when they claimed two European Championships crowns and the World Cup title between 2008 and 2012 – though their unprecedented period of success ended abruptly last year when they were dumped out of World Cup 2014 in the group stage.
“We were able to enjoy a unique period and an extraordinary generation of footballers.
“We were crowned world champions and were twice European champions. Let’s see if anyone else can match that.
“But football’s a game and sooner or later the day that we would lose, that we’d get knocked out [of a major tournament], had to come.”