London, May 24 (IANS): Carlo Ancelotti said that French great Zinedine Zidane gave him the chance to move beyond the 4-4-2 formation. Ancelotti managed Zidane when he led Juventus from 1999 to 2001.

"With Zidane, I tried to change my idea about the system. Zidane is the first player who gave me the possibility to change the system and play in a different way," Ancelotti, who currently manages Everton in the Premier League, told former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports.

"So when I had Zidane, in the first year at Juventus, I played with a system of 3-4-1-2, having (Alessandro) Del Piero and (Filippo) Inzaghi up front and Zidane a little bit behind. The second year, I played with a back four but keeping two strikers in front and one No10 like Zidane.

"Zidane changed my idea about football, I was so focused before Juventus on 4-4-2 and after with Zidane, I changed, I wanted to put him in the best position for him to let him be more comfortable on the pitch," he added.

Ancelotti would later go on to work with Zidane when he coached Real Madrid and the latter was his assistant manager. Zidane took over from Ancelotti and led Real to three consecutive Champions League titles.