Now you look them in the eye, without fear and without reverence, face to face with the most highly rated teams in the championship. Cagliari is in Serie A and demonstrated it in a triptych which, for those without substance, would have been smashing from scratch. Atalanta, Inter and Juventus, one after the other, to win five points, regretting four, scoring two goals per game and conceding at least two too many. Compactness, concreteness, courage, dynamism, personality. Winning against Atalanta in the week they get rid of Liverpool. Draw in the chase with Inter by scoring two goals and scoring points, something that has never happened to a Nerazzurri opponent in 2024 either in the league or in the Cups, and seriously risking winning (no one has scored three goals at San Siro this season) . Draw with Juve with two goals behind courtesy of. A series of consecutive races that only need comfort in the standings to legitimize an expected and unexpected achievement of credibility.
We grow by step, a sudden step, and not by a constant upward line. You try today, you try tomorrow, until you realize that playing evenly is not a moment, it’s not an effort, but it succeeds. Ranieri accompanied his team as he was the first to try to review the details, as in the study of a Formula One car. In building an adequate car he changed and moved, alternated and carbureted, lubricated and inflated, the different components that now allow him to acquire points even in the pits, during set-up changes. The protagonists adapt the race, especially in attack, with growing certainties that can now also involve the braking system.
Attack more balanced than the defense. The use of Shomurodov as the only central reference marked the turning point. Goals and assists have started to pour in again with a devastating frequency, that of a leader accustomed to taking his national team by the hand, inventing solutions. Luvumbo’s awareness is irreverent. He is no longer the kid who causes mischief but the device that rolls menacingly in the key areas of the attack. Viola is experiencing another spring. Called upon in the hot minutes of matches, she is capable of making dreams and plays flourish that are reminiscent of youthful flowering.
There is always room to grow and mistakes help us understand how. You can’t score goals with the point man on the barrier being the first to turn and duck. Starting from the youth team, those who lead the block on set pieces must have clarity, coolness and determination. In Serie A you can’t look at yourself in the tumultuous waters of a match. The speed of execution makes the difference and the ball you lose, the arm you sprawl, the defensive line you don’t follow, become fatal. Enough to collect 5 points instead of 9. But you do it in Serie A. A Serie B team would have come out of the trio with zero points. Cagliari is about to join the club of rightful teams in the top flight. The road is traced even if the journey is not yet finished.
