They could hardly be at more different stages of their managerial careers but they share the same hunger for silverware. Giancarlo Rinaldi looks at what it would mean for the coaches of Atalanta, Roma and Fiorentina to lift a trophy this season.
Don Carlo Ancelotti might well look on and smile. Perhaps he can remember what it was like when he too was a tactician without any titles to his name. Now he sits at the very top of the European trophy tree but three of his countrymen would kill to take a first major honour on the bench for their Serie A clubs this year.
Atalanta, Roma and Fiorentina have played a huge part in ensuring Italy will have five representatives in the Champions League next season so it would be fitting if they could earn a trophy to crown their efforts. Last term was a heartbreaking one when the world of Calcio went three for three in continental cup final disappointments. They stand on the brink of a potential double once more.
Their bosses, of course, are of very differing ages and experience levels. Nonetheless, for each one of them it would be a significant boost to their CV to win something that matters as a manager. Any success would be a special moment for the men involved.
Gian Piero Gasperini, at the tender age of 66, is finally getting the European kudos his skills deserve. Isn’t it amazing what a resounding victory over an English Premier League side can get you? With a Coppa Italia final against Juventus in the bag and a Europa League battle with Marseille in store, he would love to get his hands on a trophy as he closes in on 400 games in charge at Atalanta with the best part of a decade at the helm. To earn such an honour in Bergamo would truly be a stratospheric achievement. La Dea – The Goddess – would genuinely be in heaven.
It hasn’t always been easy, of course, and at the start of this season there were many – myself included – who doubted his ability to reinvent his team once more. Instead, he has rolled up his sleeves and got on with the job of creating yet another unit which has been capable of going on a great run both at home and abroad. On their day, the Bergamaschi are capable of beating anyone.
At the other end of the coaching spectrum, of course, is his Europa League rival Daniele De Rossi. A trophy-laden playing career does not guarantee success as he found out to his cost during a brief spell in charge of Spal in Serie B. But his work to transform Roma from the grumpy, grouchy Giallorossi we witnessed under Jose Mourinho to a much more spectator-friendly outfit has been impressive. He has, of course, the little matter of a seemingly unbeatable Bayer Leverkusen side to defeat to even make it to the final in Dublin.
Still, it would be something pretty magical if he could take his hometown club to glory. Europe has often reserved more heartache than happiness for the capital side and it would be brilliant for him to take another open-top bus round the Eternal City. He is already a legend but it would cement that status still further.
Somewhere in between the two, in managerial experience terms, is Fiorentina’s Vincenzo Italiano – now apparently approaching the end of his three-year cycle with the Viola. Considered by many to be an up-and-coming coach, it would surely boost his credentials to actually win something. Last year, of course, his team made two finals and lost them both.
This time around they have blown the Coppa Italia a little earlier – to Gasperini’s men – and so will have to go all in on the Conference League. They face a Club Brugge side in impressive form but they know it is the only way they can send their coach off in style. Otherwise, it will always be a story of what might have been for his time in Tuscany.
Trophies aren’t everything, of course, and no doubt all three men will have another crack at a title or two in the years to come. Nonetheless, having come this far it would be a shame for them not to have something to show for all their great efforts. If nothing else, it would let them sit down at the dinner table with Don Carlo without feeling quite the same inferiority complex.