Davide Ancelotti hopes to write his own story at Lille

Davide Ancelotti's Lille drew 1-1 at Monaco in Ligue 1 on Sunday, a result that kept them competitive domestically but came amid a troubling Champions League run this season. Lille have lost all three of their matches in the Champions League and sit second from bottom in the 36-team table.

Ancelotti, the son of Carlo Ancelotti, has spoken of a desire to establish his own reputation: "I hope to be able to write my story, with my first name, too." No manager has won more titles (five) or as many games (218) in the competition as his father, and Davide spent 14 years working alongside him before a 33-game stint as manager at Botafogo.

Lille's appointment of Ancelotti over the summer represented a break from recent hires: Christophe Galtier, Jocelyn Gourvennec, Paulo Fonseca and Bruno Génésio had all been viewed as experienced, Ligue 1-tested options. Génésio left when his contract expired despite meeting the club’s objective of qualifying for this season’s Champions League, a decision the club president Olivier Létang said “was the right moment” for a parting of the ways.

Before their Ligue 1 meeting, an anecdote from Rio de Janeiro underlined Ancelotti’s international links: Monaco manager Filipe Luís called him a “really formidable person” and added, “It is something special for us. It will be a pleasure to face my friend.” Filipe Luís’s CV cited in reporting includes a Premier League title with Chelsea, eight years at Atlético Madrid with La Liga, the Copa del Rey and two Europa League trophies, and a Copa Libertadores win with Flamengo; Monaco forward Matthis Abline said of Filipe Luís, “He knows what he’s talking about and how to motivate us.”

Létang’s knowledge of Ancelotti predates the Lille job: the president worked with Carlo Ancelotti at Paris Saint-Germain in 2012 when Davide was the club’s fitness coach and Létang was director of football, and Létang used Carlo as a middleman when approaching Davide this summer. Carlo Ancelotti has attended Lille matches this season, including a draw with PSG in August, according to reporting.

Sunday’s game at the Stade Louis II saw Ethan Mbappé open the scoring from what was described as the only clear chance of the first half, after which Lille retreated. Tanguy Nianzou was sent off for a reckless challenge on Paris Brunner and Davide Ancelotti substituted Soriba Diaoune for Isaac Cossier; Monaco equalised through Edan Diop with 15 minutes to play and mounted numerous late efforts before the points were shared, and Ancelotti praised his side’s “solidarity.”

The point at Monaco took Lille to 15 points from eight games and left them one point behind Ligue 1 leaders Rennes; it was their best domestic start since the season in which they won the title in 2020-21. Off the pitch, the Ligue 1 weekend featured disruption: Paris Saint-Germain’s game against Lyon was postponed until Monday, several fixtures were moved elsewhere including Toulouse v Troyes and Montpellier v Red Star, and Saint-Étienne delayed their kick-off by 45 minutes following a police directive.

There were also developments around the league’s commercial future: Vincent Labrune announced a fresh auction for Ligue 1’s broadcasting rights that will begin next month and end in December, with any prospective deal to start at the beginning of next season. Labrune spoke of a “new context” and said there were “registered concrete interests from different actors,” noting recent legal changes allow the rights to be sold in a single “bundle.”

For signs of who Davide is beyond the son of the most prolific manager in Europe, the wait goes on. He is out of his father’s shadow but not yet truly in the light.