Claudio Ranieri led the rossoblù to safety thanks above all to the results in the direct clashes against the other relegation candidates
It couldn’t have happened that Cagliari were relegated the year they lost Gigi Riva forever. What happened to Sampdoria and Cremonese twelve months earlier could not be repeated, widows first of Gianluca Vialli and then of Serie A: they must have said it to each other, near the former Sant’Elia stadium, that end of January when the whole island and much of Italy stopped to pay homage to the silent number eleven.
Yet the restart after the shock was not easy: home defeats against Torino and Lazio, Roma’s harvest at the Olimpico, before the precious draw in Udine. Gianluca Gaetano’s arrival with a goal strengthened Claudio Ranieri’s team, who snatched draws from the outgoing Italian champions, the incoming ones and the solid Juventus (always Allegri must remain): with hindsight, even conquering Empoli thanks to the Jakub Jankto’s goal became fundamental if today, at the Reggio Emilia stadium, the rossoblu have the certainty of remaining in the top tournament next season too.
The Roman coach, capable of winning promotion at the last dive last year (Leonardo Pavoletti’s goal in Bari in the 94th minute, given the subsequent collapse of the Apulians, represents a plot twist of a certain level), has understood with which material had something to do, and in his second successful Sardinian experience he didn’t demand more from the squad than he could give. And, incredible to say, in the poor 2023-2024 Serie A, it was enough: empirical choices between the two goalkeepers, the ace Nahitán Nandez indifferently full-back, midfielder, interior, attacking midfielder or winger, the arrow Zito Luvumbo, the playmakers in phases alternating, flashes of Gaetano Oristanio, the courage to launch Matteo Prati as director in his absolute debut.
So far the coach’s hand, in a context where everything could have gone wrong and instead it didn’t. Of their own, the players brought the compactness that led them to prevail in the decisive direct clashes: four victories, six draws and only two defeats in matches that were worth double, plus the passage of the Italian Cup round having conquered Friuli. It is here that Cagliari built its salvation, and all things considered decisive was that 4-3 against Frosinone which the Sardinian people will remember for a long time as an Italy-Germany match: it was October 20th, the second summer, when at lunchtime the beautiful game that Eusebio di Francesco was unable to display under the Quattro Mori developed into a chilling but partial 0-3. In twenty minutes, plus the provident “mundial” extra recovery, the hosts’ rare takeover turned off the Ciociaria lights: it was still early, but without that healthy madness aided by the guests today Casteddu would still be in anguish of playing everything in the last hand, while the yellow and blue could pull out all the stops on the final day. Which will certainly not be an indifferent match, since the hungry Udinese will come to lower Lazio, for whom – unlike Matías Soulé and his teammates – a draw may not be enough.
Cruelty of a calendar that already at the end of the Serie B regular season has shown how important the difference is between those who still have something to play for (perhaps survival) and those who, despite not letting things go, are already thinking about the European Championships, to exotic holidays, to the next destination.
