Ancelotti and Real Madrid
You coached Carlo Ancelotti, so you were able to see this evolution from player to coach. What can you tell us?
Capello: "I was able to see his ability and technique on the pitch. He knew how to read the game. When he went out on the pitch, you could see that he had the quality to read the game and to know what he had to do with his teammates, even with passes, but also with reminders.
"These are things you don't always think about. Ancelotti was more than dynamic in those games, he was really the one who led the orchestra with words and also with the ball, but much more with words.
"And he was a very serious man. I knew him and I see him again from time to time and he deserves the success he's had because he managed to understand in all the places where he worked what the club wanted and to get the team to play in the style he preferred.
"That's not an easy thing to do, it's very difficult. You have to be a teacher and that's what he has become.
His name has often been associated with Brazil. In your opinion, would he be a suitable coach for the Brazilian national team given his style?
"His style, that's for sure, but coaching a national team is something else, it's not like working in a club. What's important, as I always say, is that when you have a national team, you have the chance to find a group of players and you win if you have high-quality players.
"I'd say they've got Vinicius Junior who's making a difference at the moment, but I don't know. Maybe it's also a challenge for Carlo and he's taken on challenges, he's won almost all of them and this would probably be the last one before he retires."
Let's talk about the Galacticos of Real Madrid and the Real Madrid of today. In your opinion, are there any similarities between these two eras or these two teams?
"I'd say there are. They are Galacticos. They are a little more difficult to play together because (Kylian) Mbappe and Vinicius play in the same position, so they step on each other's toes and don't perform well.
"They have great qualities, they can do what the others can't do in tight spaces, in games that nobody thinks about, but they don't play in harmony.
"It's a team of Galacticos up front, with problems in midfield following the departure of Toni Kroos, and problems in defence with injuries to (Dani) Carvajal and others."
You've been through two spells at Real Madrid, in the second you were the architect of a historic comeback which ended with your farewell. What memories do you have of that season?
"Recovering nine points against Barcelona was memorable. Memorable because the team seemed disorientated. I decided to sell Ronaldo, whom I consider to be the best player I've ever coached, and the chairman and I decided to sack him. There was another problem at the time, that of Beckham, who had signed with Los Angeles, and the club felt offended and wanted him to stop playing.
"I left him out for 10 days, but David came to training properly, he was always on time and he was the last to leave. I went to see the chairman and said: 'Look, chairman, from tomorrow I'm putting Beckham on the pitch because he's a serious person. If you don't like it, sack me, but that's it...'"
"And that's what happened. And from then on, we started to pick up points, until the last home game against Mallorca, when we lost 1-0 and the team played the worst football on the pitch, fearful and dazed. In the second half, after the break, I calmly told them what they should have done, a simple thing: 'Go out on the pitch, play like you'd been training', and we won 3-1 and went on to win the league.
"But it was really something different. The team made an incredible leap, mentally. I told them that we weren't inferior to Barcelona, that we could be competitive and that we had to play every game like a final.
"It's clear that we got the points back because Barcelona lost them, but you can see that they've relaxed, as has already happened this year with Barcelona, who were so many points ahead of Real Madrid and got them back."
Cristiano Ronaldo
In an interview, Cristiano Ronaldo described himself as the best player in the history of football. I'd like to know what you think about that.
"When someone claims that title, they mark it themselves, they've done their homework, they haven't listened to others, I think they've exaggerated a bit. In short, they've played the student and the teacher, haven't they?
"A great player, built with desire, with will. But when I talk about phenomena, I say Messi, I say Pele, I say Maradona and I put Ronaldo the 'Gordo', Ronaldo the 'Phenomenon', right next to them. He's a hair below them."
Zidane
Zidane is another coach who also played for Juventus before joining Real. He has links with the French national team. Do you think he's the right man for the job?
"He surprised me with the skill with which he coached Real Madrid. He had the team, but it's not enough to have the team. You have to know how to manage it, you have to know how to bring it to your side, you have to convince it to do certain things and he had the charisma that he had on the pitch, so I consider him capable of coaching the French team.
"The fact that he didn't agree to go to other teams makes me realise that he could have accepted a team that was only at the top. After coaching Real Madrid, the top team could be Manchester City or Liverpool."
World Cup 2026
In 2026, the World Cup will take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In your opinion, will this type of event help to make football the number one sport in the United States?
"It's going to be difficult because there's a culture of other sports that has grown up in universities, so we have to work to make football the number one sport, but it will be a big step forward.
"We'll be hearing about this push in 10 years time, when young people who have seen these World Cups, who have attended these World Cups, will be able to understand that this sport will have great visibility, great economic strength and that it can deliver results.
"The whole of North America is involved in ensuring that this sport tries to become the number one sport in the United States."
In a way, they're already ahead of the game, because they've recruited talents like Lionel Messi in MLS to increase the popularity of football in America. Do you think this will help? And what do you think of Messi's decision to abandon Europe?
"It was a lifestyle choice for him, there were no economic problems. It seems to me, at least from what you read in the newspapers about certain matches, that he has succeeded in raising his profile. Ronaldo raised the profile of Saudi Arabia and Messi raised the profile of the United States."