Ancelotti once lost to a Moldovan club inside the Bernabéu and still won the trophy — should France even worry?
The French coach's track record shows that stumbles in the group stage have never stopped him from conquering Europe
Losing to Sheriff Tiraspol, from Moldova, inside the Santiago Bernabéu. Falling to AEK in Greece. Drawing 0–0 with Celtic in Glasgow. Carlo Ancelotti has lived through all of it — and lifted the trophy in the end.
That is precisely the track record underpinning the argument made by columnist PVC at UOL Esporte: for Ancelotti, the opening result means nothing.
The coach's first Champions League title began with a joyless win, yet the entire campaign included four defeats and five draws across 16 games. The trophy arrived all the same. In his second European triumph, with Milan, he drew, lost, drew again — and still got there.
"I never felt as much pressure as I did at Real Madrid, to win the tenth Champions League. And the pressure did no harm," Ancelotti told Gazzetta dello Sport's Sportsweek magazine.
The point is not that he plans to stumble. It is that he knows exactly what to do when he does.
France arrive at the 2026 World Cup with Ancelotti at the helm, carrying that history as a shield. The Golmetria model gives the French a 9.3% chance of winning the title — a figure that may look modest on its own, but one that reflects a competitive Group I and the weight of any long campaign in a World Cup tournament.
In the market, the implied probability sits at around 14.7%.
The question left for French supporters — and for those watching from afar — is straightforward: if Ancelotti already won the European crown after tripping over a Moldovan club, what does a poor result in the World Cup opener actually mean? History says it may mean nothing at all. The tournament will start providing answers soon.