A magical trio. Three promotions, one after the other. Two with Lecce, the third with Cagliari. «Fantastic, unforgettable years. From Serie C to Serie A in…
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The former national coach has just returned to Bari, the city where he lives. He now experiences football as an observer, the comparison between the past and the present, with the passion that remains within him. Memories perhaps also travel along the lines of nostalgia. «The ones I brought with me from Salento are beautiful. Almost a sort of beautiful fairy tale. A team rebuilt entirely, directly, Mimmo Cataldo and I, the players chosen one at a time. I think back to Francioso, Palmieri, Mazzeo, Cucciari, De Patre, Zanoncelli, Lorieri, the others. The Lecce we took had only 74 paying players in the last official match, there were only two players under contract. It was Semeraro’s Lecce with Moroni as president and Ezio Candido as team manager. We closed the season with the magnificent crowd in Cesena. It was something extraordinary. And the season of landing in Serie A was extraordinary. Then I went to Sardinia and found Cagliari psychologically destroyed by relegation, with depression weighing on the club and the president. I carried everything on my shoulders, Cellino was a great friend, we rebuilt the team with qualified additions, we won the Serie B championship and for me it was my debut in Serie A in the 1988-89 season. I returned to Cagliari again in 2002-2003. Well, this Cagliari-Lecce is a matter of the heart for me.”
In Sardinia there is a coach like Claudio Ranieri, a story of great prestige in Italy and abroad. He brought Cagliari back to Serie A last season after Liverani’s dismissal. He had already brought the Sardinians back to the top flight with a double promotion from Serie C to Serie C A league in the 1988-91 seasons, also guaranteeing their salvation. Ranieri is sixteen years older than Luca Gotti, a sort of rising star, who is looking for a permanent place in the great national football showcase. Is this Cagliari-Lecce also a sort of comparison between different seasons of our football and its protagonists? Giampiero Ventura, who shares a degree in motor sciences with Gotti, says: «Each coach has his own beliefs and his own abilities. But ideas have no age. You can have young ideas at an advanced age. It matters what you know, how you do it. Football today has changed a lot not only in terms of the game, but in the relationships themselves, in its way of being, in communication. And the company one has behind oneself matters more and more. Lecce has a strong and serene club, what happened to D’Aversa could have upset their plans, but instead Sticchi Damiani and his team were able to turn everything into a positive situation with great improvement, accelerating their pace on the path to salvation. For the coach, the value of the club is important. Gotti deserves compliments for how he immediately made the group follow him from a behavioral point of view. It must be said honestly that D’Aversa was also followed, leading Lecce to emerge almost as a surprise in the initial phase of the tournament. In Lecce you can feel the feeling of seriousness and corporate capacity and the ability to Raven. Situations that help players a lot. I like the spirit of the team of the Salento people, the energy they all have inside, a sign of an exceptional locker room, of an authentically healthy and motivated group. Congratulations to everyone.”
Lecce’s technical strengths? Gallo’s exploit, for example, or whatever. «Rooster Lately he’s been irrepressible. But when you talk about Lecce more than individuals, you have to talk about a priceless collective, difficult to find so cohesive and motivated.” Cagliari-Lecce, then. «A much more difficult match for Cagliari who arrive there fresh from the 0-3 in Genoa and with the obligation of a result at all costs. It will be exciting to see. Lecce has the advantage of being very good psychologically, which serves to enhance Gotti’s new tactical balance. Many consider Lecce already out of the battle for survival due to their large advantage over third from last. After Cagliari they will have Udinese at home. For the people of Salento, one result in two matches is enough.” Area salvation? «There are surprises just like Udinese, a team with values and which dreamed of a European place, which now finds itself in psychological difficulties even before technical ones. There is a great player like Cannavaro on the bench. The other big surprise is Sassuolo. It is no coincidence that teams forced to fight against all odds are suffering the most. We knew about Empoli that he would have to fight. Frosinone had started very well. I saw him in Turin and he deserved to win. Angelozzi is another very good one. In football you never know. Verona, downsized to the winter market, is surprising thanks to Baroni. However, I see Cagliari as out of the mix, after Lecce.”
From Lecce, Ventura is already thinking about the future. «It’s nice to think about the third consecutive season in Serie A, where he is increasingly acquiring the right to stable citizenship. I read that they are also adapting the systems to new times. I renew my compliments to Sticchi Damianian exemplary manager, who lives the present for the sake of tomorrow, and who is a great guarantee not only for Lecce, but for Italian football.”
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