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‘Is it a joke?’: Carlo Ancelotti reveals first reaction to Super League proposal

Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti  (Everton)
Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti (Everton)

Carlo Ancelotti has revealed he thought the now abandoned plans for a European Super League were a joke when he first heard about them.

Twelve of Europe’s biggest clubs announced on Sunday night that they intended to join a new breakaway tournament that they hoped would rival Uefa’s Champions League.

However, in the face of furious opposition from figures both inside and outside of the game, the plans were sensationally dropped a little over two days later.

Everton manager Ancelotti believes the plans were “wrong” and is pleased they didn’t come to fruition.

“My immediate reaction was they are joking, ‘Is it a joke?’,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.

“For every supporter of football it was a strange day, a surprise. We heard about the Super League in the past few months but I was sure it was not going to happen. What can I say? They were wrong.

“The clubs were wrong because they didn’t take into consideration the players, managers and supporters.

“They wanted to build a competition without sporting merit. This is not acceptable because in our culture, we were brought up to have sporting merit. They were wrong - full stop.”

Everton’s owner Farhad Moshiri called for the clubs involved to be docked points but Ancelotti would not be drawn on sanctions.

“I’m not the right person to say if they should be punished. Everyone can do mistakes,” he added.

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