Ahead of the end of his four-year stay a Real Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti will have little time to figure out what his Brazil squad is going to look like.
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced Carlo Ancelotti as Brazil’s new manager last week in a last-ditch effort by former president Ednaldo Rodrigues to keep his job. It ended up being his final act in the role, being deposed just a few days later.
Real Madrid still have one game to play in La Liga in Saturday, and Ancelotti will announce his first Selecao squad just two days later.
Considering the lack of time to fully analyse his options and the fact that he’ll jump into a new job without any sort of preparation, it feels safe to assume Ancelotti’s first list will feature mostly players he already knows playing in Europe — even though previous manager Dorival Junior called up a lot of footballers from Brazilian clubs in the last few international breaks.
But how could he line Brazil up?
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Same, but different
Brazil’s last game was a heavy and humiliating defeat to rivals Argentina, back in March. The current world champions had a two-goal lead after just over 10 minutes and it felt a lot more than the final 4-1 scoreline.
Still, it was a desperate attempt from Dorival Junior to try something different, in one of just two matches after the 2024 Copa America (from a possible eight) in which he started without a true striker.
Logic points toward Ancelotti doing the same, at least in the beginning of his tenure in charge of the Selecao. Although the starting XI could be similar, the in-game strategies and details would certainly be different.
The ‘El Clasico’
Another option would be to keep the striker-less line-up, but having both Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo starting out wide to then drift inside as forwards. The pair are used to doing this under Ancelotti at Real Madrid, while he could add Barcelona’s Raphinha in behind as a false nine.
This would obviously be just the base-formation, with the Italian’s preferred freedom of movement philosophy set to prevail over predecessors Dorival Junior’s and especially Tite’s more rigid and positional styles.
Raphinha had always looked more comfortable playing as a right-winger. But he started the season at Barcelona under Hansi Flick almost as a No.10 and began to drift more and more to the left as time passed by.
This trio playing near each other to create chances in wide overloads in both sides, with help from a good supporting cast around them, could make for a very interesting test that, in theory, seems to match Ancelotti’s footballing ideals. They would, of course, require extra help in midfield so that Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo don’t get overwhelmed with defensive duties.
New faces
There is also the possibility that less famous Brazilian players in Europe get a chance under Ancelotti simply due to proximity. Don Carlo will certainly have help to put the list together, but won’t have enough time to scout players he doesn’t really know.
In this scenario, Fiorentina’s Dodo, Lille’s Alexsandro Ribeiro, Monaco’s Caio Henrique, Strasbourg’s Andrey Santos and Atalanta’s Ederson could receive opportunities. Some of them already have international call-ups, but not as much playing time with the Selecao.
Like Casemiro, Richarlison has already played under Ancelotti before, at Everton, and could make a return. He last made an appearance for the Brazilian national team in October 2023.
Brazil have suffered from a lack of elite strikers and attacking midfielders for a while now, with Neymar hiding playmaking and goalscoring issues in his prime with the Amarelinha.
Now, he looks like a shell of himself physically and his status is still unknown for the next international break as he recovers from yet another muscular injury. He last played over a month ago and has racked up just nine matches in his return to Santos in 2025.
Elsewhere, the main options for attacking midfielders in the provisional squad rumoured in the media seem to be players on the back end of their careers, like former Chelsea player Oscar (currently 33) and in-form 34-year-old Alan Patrick.
Defensively, Eder Militao and Gabriel are still injured, while the midfield was completely overmatched in their last game against Argentina. All of this could mean that Ancelotti tries to dance around the problems and relies heavily on his old acquaintances to carry most of the burdens initially when they face Ecuador on 5th June and Paraguay five days later.