The harshest dismissal in Ancelotti’s career

Carlo Ancelotti looks back at his period with Bayern Munich as a lingering pain, having suffered the toughest dismissal even though he secured national trophies.

Throughout his coaching career, Carlo Ancelotti has managed many top clubs, from AC Milan, Chelsea, PSG to Real Madrid. He brought home the Champions League, domestic championships, and built a reputation as a master tactician. But when recalling Bayern Munich, the Italian coach is left with only sad memories — the dismissal he describes as the harshest in his coaching life.

In the summer of 2016, Ancelotti took the helm at Allianz Arena, succeeding Pep Guardiola with the mission to restore Bayern’s dominance in Europe. In his first season, Bayern won the Bundesliga and the German Super Cup. On paper, it was a perfect start. However, to the Bavarian club’s leadership, those titles were seen as expected; the Champions League was the only true measure.

Bayern does not have a single owner like many other clubs. Instead, it operates under a leadership structure involving several powerful figures: Rummenigge, Hoeness, Lahm… all sharing decision-making power. This setup put Ancelotti in a difficult position. He admitted he never knew who held the final say.

The decisive blow came on the night of September 27, 2017, when Bayern suffered a 0-3 defeat against PSG in the Champions League group stage. It was the club’s worst loss in the competition in over twenty years. Immediately after the match, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge declared consequences were necessary. Just hours later, Ancelotti was officially dismissed. He bitterly wrote that “you don’t need a capricious owner to get fired; shareholders can do it too.”.

What hurt him more than the termination was how Bayern’s leadership denied all his achievements. The Bundesliga and Super Cup titles became meaningless, and respect for the coach was discarded. Throughout his career, Ancelotti had parted ways with Juventus, Chelsea, and Real Madrid, but it was in Munich that he faced “the most ruthless blow.”.

Ironically, his successor, Jupp Heynckes, led Bayern to the Champions League semifinals, only to be eliminated by Real Madrid — the team Ancelotti had previously taken to Europe’s summit. This cycle deepened his pain.

To this day, Ancelotti considers Bayern an unhealed scar in his coaching journey. It’s not just a personal story but also reflects how a major club runs under a collective model: stable, rich in tradition, yet sometimes cold and inflexible. For Ancelotti, that shock forged greater resilience, allowing him to continue succeeding at Real Madrid, where he won another Champions League and cemented his immortal status among coaches.

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