Luis de la Fuente has arguably been the standout manager at Euro 2024.
Having only managed Alaves, Aurrera and Portugalete’s first-teams at club level and the Under-19, Under-21 and Under-23 teams for Spain at international level in the past, the 63-year-old’s CV did not garner him as one of the best coaches at the tournament amongst the masses.
However, Luis de la Fuente has proven his doubters wrong — as Spain are in the semi-finals of the European Championship — heading into the contest as favourites against France based on form.
Naturally, one would expect that Pep Guardiola — arguably the greatest-ever Spanish manager would be regarded as the former Sevilla youth team manager as the gold standard in football management currently.
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Luis de La Fuente explains why Carlo Ancelotti is superior to Pep Guardiola
The £378,846-a-week man influenced Spanish football in unprecedented fashion with his incredible Barcelona sides and despite leaving the club in 2012, his rise has continued.
The Spain boss would also perhaps be expected to have been inspired by the Catalan’s tactical and man-management methods throughout his career.
However, when quizzed on Cadena SER’s Carrusel Deportivo show about who is the better manager between Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti, Luis de la Fuente chose the latter.
“[Carlo] Ancelotti because I like how he manages the groups [of players]. Look at what we’re talking about.”
Former players have chimed in on which out of the two legendary managers they would have rather played under — with Michael Owen siding with Guardiola due to how much he would learn from his tactical ideas.
Pep Guardiola has also always managed massive personalities well
Considering the rationale Luis de la Fuente provided was how Carlo Ancelotti is brilliant at managing different groups of players, Pep Guardiola has done the same throughout his career at elite clubs as well.
At Barcelona, the two-time treble-winner managed some of the biggest names in the history of the game such as Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez to name a few.
At Bayern Munich and Manchester City, their dressing rooms had massive figures like Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Mueller, Arjen Robben, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Vincent Kompany as well.
Much like Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola was able to manage such superstars — who he constantly kept on their toes with his ever-changing tactical instructions, constant rotation and demand to win at all times.
Luis de la Fuente is well within his right to prefer one over the other but the reasoning from him does not quite explain why the Italian is the better manager.
