Carlo Ancelotti has won the Champions League twice as a player and twice as a coach with AC Milan.
Now, after a disastrous start to the season, the pressure is mounting on Ancelotti as he takes the club into the second-tier UEFA Cup. The seven-time European champion faces FC Zurich today.
"The biggest mistake would be to say who's to blame and who's not to blame," Ancelotti said. "We're staying united and the only thing we're focusing on is training well."
Milan has no points from two Serie A games and is next to last in the standings despite the arrival of Ronaldinho and return of Andriy Shevchenko.
Shevchenko, who scored 73 goals in 296 games during seven seasons with Milan, said a victory over Zurich could ignite the season.
"We're going through a rough period," the Ukraine striker said. "We've got to try to stay united and get a victory right away to bounce back."
Ancelotti is the longest serving coach in Serie A, but has failed to win the Italian league in the past four seasons. After the club finished fifth last season and missed out on a Champions League spot, fans and the media questioned whether Ancelotti had lost his touch.
Losses to modest Bologna and Genoa in the first two Serie A games and a 0-2 defeat to Swiss second-division side Lugano in a friendly have exacerbated to his woes. A defeat to FC Zurich in the first leg of the UEFA Cup first round could be the tipping point for Ancelotti.
Domestic struggler
Milan isn't the only domestic struggler under pressure in the UEFA Cup. Tottenham is last in the English Premier League standings with just one point from four games. It is Spurs' worst start to a season in 34 years at top-tier football.
Since the team beat Chelsea to win the League Cup in February, Tottenham has won only three league games. It finished a disappointing 11th in the league, and current form suggests a relegation struggle rather than any title challenge.
Like Ancelotti, coach Juande Ramos is feeling the heat as his team faces Wisla Krakow on Thursday.
"I am always angry at the end of games like this which we lose," he said after the defeat against Aston Villa on Monday. "Not just with the players but with myself as well. We're all responsible for these results. Victories are won by everybody and defeats are lost by everybody."
Ramos said that one of his problems was trying to blend new signings into the team and compensate for the departures of such players as strikers Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily September 18, 2008)