Carlo Ancelotti was sacked at half-time despite being able to win a title in second-half

If Carlo Ancelotti’s glamorous Real Madrid spell does indeed come to an end after the Copa del Rey final, it won’t be the first time the legendary Italian has left at the close.

Reports in Spain suggest that failure against Barcelona this weekend in Sevilla will see president Florentino Perez wield his axe with five LaLiga games still to play.

It would be a sorry end for Ancelotti, the record Champions League winner who took his total to five in the Spanish capital before a premature exit to Arsenal in the quarter-finals this season.

A sacking after defeat to Barcelona would be particularly brutal too, given that they only trail their Clasico rivals by four points in LaLiga, and have a head-to-head still to play during the run in.

Yet big clubs and serial winners don’t hang around, as Ancelotti knows all too well from the start of his coaching career at Juventus.

One of Italy’s greats as a player, Ancelotti retired as a two-time European Cup winner at Milan in 1992 and after three years as an assistant with the national team he took the hotseat at Reggiana, earning promotion to Serie A.

He then took former side Parma to second and the Champions League, and although it was clear he was the country’s best up-and-coming coach, nothing could’ve prepared him for his next job – Juventus.

Having left Parma with a sixth-place finish in 1998, Ancelotti had six months on the sidelines before getting itchy feet and agreeing to go and meet Turkish giants Fenerbahce.

There was a twist, though, when a surprise number popped up on his phone.

“Luciano Moggi [Juventus’ general manager] called me the day before my three-day trip to Turkey to meet Fenerbahce.