Rafa Honigstein

I think he's only played four times since the last World Cup.

So...

Even though I kind of back Carlo to be the one person who can make this work because he is very good.

I think one of his superpowers is his ability to create a group out of superstars and get everybody on the same page.

I think that's what made him special.

Such a great Real Madrid coach that, you know, those personalities that we've seen clash this year under Xabi Alonso and Arbeloa didn't clash under Carlo Ancelotti.

So...

But on the one hand, I feel really bad for João Pedro, who Chelsea named Player of the Year 15 minutes or so after it was announced that he would not be going to... But it just goes to show that...

The pressure that was placed on Carlo Ancelotti to make this call, you know, from all of the reporting seems to have been huge.

You know, legends who have won World Cups for Brazil telling him to do it.

Senior players in his squad telling him to do it.

And, you know, I mean, Carlo Ancelotti is used to working for some very high-powered individuals, you know, be it Silvio Berlusconi, be it Roman Abramovich.

But the Brazilian public...

Might be the most demanding of all.

And so, yeah, let's see how he copes with this.

Because I think the one thing you could say about Brazil is, okay, maybe they don't have...

a young up-and-coming player, now particularly with what happened to Esteval, that you could look to and say, that kid is going to be the best player in the world in the way that Ronaldinho looked like that player or Ronaldo looked like that player.

But if you look at the recent conversations we've had about who's going to win the Ballon d'Or,

Well, Real Madrid decided not to go to the Ballon d'Or ceremony when Vinicius Junior didn't win it a couple of years ago.

And Rafinha was in the Ballon d'Or conversation as recently as this time last year.