Ancelotti: Zidane changed my view on football
The Italian says that the sole reason he scrapped his preferred 4-4-2 formation for 4-3-1-2 was to accommodate the current Real Madrid boss during their time together at Juventus
Ancelotti took charge of Juventus in 1999, when his preferred formaiton was 4-4-2, but soon after realised to accomodate the Frenchmans style, he would have to change to play a 4-3-1-2.
Ancelotti claims this change was a pivotal point in his career, and therefore has Zidane to partly thank for his success.
Although this formation failed to bring Juventus a title in his two years there, his next club, AC Milan , won eight trophies in eight years using this formation.
"The first time that I met Zinedine Zidane was in the first year in Juventus and I found a fantastic player," the 56-year-old told Goal.
"Zidane was the key for me to change my idea of football because I was always used to playing 4-4-2.
"At Juventus I changed my system, to play a player like him behind two strikers because I didn’t want to change the position. He was really fantastic."
Ancelotti later employed Zidane as his assitant coach at Real Madrid, paving the way for his current position... so i guess the debt has been repaid.