Speaking to Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports, former Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti revealed that Zinedine Zidane signing for Juventus made him change his football philosophy.
The Everton coach, who worked alongside Zidane at Real Madrid, explained that he had to change his Serie A team’s system in order to fit the Frenchman into his starting XI.
“Having Zidane, I tried to change my idea about the system. Zidane was the first player who gave me the possibility to change the system and to play in a different way. So, when I had Zidane, in the first year at Juventus, I played with a system of 3-4-1-2, having [Alessandro] Del Piero and [Filippo] Inzaghi up front and Zidane a little bit behind.
The second year, I played with a back four but keeping two strikers in front and one No.10 like Zidane. Zidane changed my idea about football, I was so focused before Juventus on 4-4-2 and after with Zidane, I changed. I wanted to put him in the best position for him to let him be more comfortable on the pitch.”
