Cagliari, 12 May 2024 – The stand of the Sardinia Region filled up this morning for one of the most anticipated events of the 36th Turin International Book Fair, “A Rumble of Thunder from the Sky” – Memory of Gigi Riva. The journalist and writer Luca Telese, author of “Cuori Rossoblù”, proposed some stages of the extraordinary story of the “Myth” Gigi Riva, describing with a series of anecdotes, both the incomparable footballing and human qualities of the young man who reluctantly arrived in Sardinia back in 1963 and quickly became “Sardinian by choice”, a champion and the first protagonist of a long successful season for Cagliari, which reached its peak with the conquest of the Scudetto in 1970.
Luca Telese recalled what happened in the Turin match against Juventus on 15 March 1970, with the penalties awarded by the great referee Concetto Lo Bello, which ended 2 to 2 (a brace by Gigi Riva, the second goal on a penalty in the 82nd minute, an own goal by Comunardo Niccolai and goal by Pietro Anastasi on a penalty kick, first missed and then repeated, for the two temporary advantages of Juventus), which then proved decisive for winning the Scudetto.
Among Luca Telese’s stories, the various attempts made by the economically strongest clubs in Italian football, in particular the Agnelli family’s Juventus, to snatch their champion from Cagliari, have also resurfaced, always blocked by the refusals of Gigi Riva who never wanted to leave “his Sardinia”, where he ended his extraordinary career, earlier than he would have liked, due to the serious injuries caused to his legs by the violence of the opposing defenders, both with the Cagliari shirt and with that of the national team, with which he still holds the record for the highest number of goals scored, 35 in 42 games played.
At the Turin Show, to remember Gigi Riva, four footballers arrived who wore the rossoblù shirt for many years, who remembered their relationship with Gigi Riva, elevating his figure as a footballer and as a man: Gianfranco Matteoli, Gianluca Festa, Matteo Villa and Vittorio Pusceddu.
