Ancelotti told me it was fate that Swansea would win at Wembley... hopefully he’ll think the football gods are on Celtic’s side this time!
THE words flow almost as fast as the meter turns in your average London taxi but Brendan Rodgers wasn’t listening to the cab driver during one memorable journey through the UK capital in 2011.
The occasion was the annual League Manager’s Association bash and Rodgers found himself sharing a taxi with Carlo Ancelotti, then at the tail end of his reign as Chelsea boss.
‘I was with Swansea at the time and it was a Wednesday night,’ recalls the Celtic manager. ‘We had the play-off final against Reading the following week and Carlo turned to me and said: “You will win on Monday”.
‘I said: “What makes you think that?” and his reply was: “It’s the footballing gods. You’re playing the team which sacked you so, for sure, you will win. I was told the same when I was with AC Milan against Juventus”.
‘So that was Carlo’s story. And after we got out the taxi, I thought: “Please be right!”.’
Ancelotti’s words were vindicated as Rodgers’ Swansea, propelled by a hat-trick from current Celtic star Scott Sinclair, won the Wembley showpiece to gain promotion to the Premier League.
If he is still beholden to fate, the Italian might feel he is in line for a slap-down from the heavens.
Thursday’s Champions League draw not only set up a reunion with Rodgers for the Bayern Munich boss but a tussle with Paris Saint-Germain, a team Ancelotti left under something of a cloud in 2013.
Rather than being sacked, he severed ties with the reluctant French club in order to join Real Madrid.
Regardless, Ancelotti has proven his leadership talent extends way beyond karma. Chosen to manage the dominant clubs in his homeland, Spain, France, England and now Germany, he occupies a lofty place in the pantheon of coaches.
In no particular order, Manuel Neuer, Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Arturo Vidal and loan signing James Rodriguez are just some of the star names that should give the 58-year-old a crack at winning his fourth Champions League crown.
‘I know Carlo reasonably well,’ continues Rodgers. ‘When I was at Reading we played a preseason game against Chelsea and we got in touch through that.
‘Wherever he has gone, he has always done a great job. Players like him and he’s got a real calming way about him. He normally comes in after managers who are fairly intense. At Real, he went in after Jose (Mourinho), and now into Bayern after Pep (Guardiola). He’s got a great footballing history and it will be great to see him again.
‘Hopefully this time the footballing gods will be telling him it’s Celtic all the way!’
Rodgers faced Ancelotti in the Champions League once before when he took Liverpool into the competition three years ago, only to suffer defeats home and away to Real.
‘We played really well in the Bernabeu but just lost out,’ he recalls. ‘We could have got something from the game. But at our place, they really showed their power that year. When we played them, they were on a 22-game winning run.’
Feted and exalted by the Celtic support and yet to taste a domestic defeat since moving north last year, Rodgers is used to occupying top dog status.
Talk of Ancelotti and Bayern, PSG and their £198million superstar Neymar, serves to remind the Northern Irishman of his, and Celtic’s, place in the grander scheme of things.
‘You can’t kid players,’ he expands. ‘You have to acknowledge where they are at. I state in my programme notes every game the words “without fear”.
‘You have to always believe, that’s been the trait of teams I’ve put out. Yep, they are going to have players who are on £200,000 a week and if you give them time and space, they’ll show you that.
‘But I don’t care what level of player you are, it’s not nice if you’ve got someone making it difficult for a lot of the game.
‘If you’ve 11 players like that, fighting and not easily beaten, then you give yourself a chance.’
If last year’s foray into the group stage represented baby steps, the coach hopes for progress this time around.
He admits the two superclubs are highly likely to reach the latter stages of the competition, which would leave Celtic in a shoot-out with Anderlecht for third place and a parachute into the Europa League.
Even so, the ‘without fear’ mantra will be repeated to his players on the competition’s opening night when the Parisians, managed by Unai Emery, visit Glasgow on September 12. Used to domestic dominance and a diet of fixtures where his team imposes its strength on the opposition, Rodgers will instruct his players to learn new tricks to try to outfox their more illustrious opponents.
‘The beauty of this is that we can demonstrate a different side of our game,’ he continued. ‘Domestically, we have a lot of domination of the ball, we have a lot of counter-press and get it back and disorganise teams very quickly.
‘This is a level where you can develop your counter-attack. We don’t get a lot of chances to do that domestically, so it gives us a chance to improve our game.
‘For us, it’s just brilliant to be involved in it. Our aim is can we find a way to still be in Europe after the Christmas period?’
The summer signing of Olivier Ntcham from Manchester City was key to Rodgers’ Champions League plan, such is the French star’s composure on the ball.
Around him, he declares himself happy with the quality and variety of his midfield options.
He added: ‘At the highest level, it’s about the ball and looking after it — and being clinical. Ntcham brings that.
‘This won’t intimidate him because he came from a big club in Man City. He knows he is a good player and this is the place to show it.
‘Stuart (Armstrong) is a great runner. He explodes into space and arrives there. Scott Brown is a stopper who can play. Then you have the likes of Tom Rogic with his turns and dribbles, while Callum (McGregor) is a great continuity player.’