Dilly-Ding Dilly-dong, Cagliari is safe. Stopwatch in hand, in an even more “comfortable” way than it was for the Sardinians to gain promotion to Serie A. A day early, nothing more than a handful of seconds at the end of injury time. Who knows without that paw from Pavoletti… On the bench, enjoying it a year ago like today, here is Claudio Ranieri, the baronet of Italian football.
It is difficult to compare Cagliari’s salvation to a feat like that of Leicester, which will remain in the history of the Premier League. The signature, however, is always the same: 73 years old on October 20th, don’t call him dean but the personal data tells us that the “greatest” lord of Serie A has struck again.
And to think that Ranieri had taken the Sardinians to 14th place in the Serie B table, taking over from Fabio Liverani just before Christmas, in a season that didn’t seem to promise anything good. Welcomed as a hero, after all it was there, in 1988, that his career as a coach had taken off: the double promotion from C1 to A, the fourteenth place which earned him an unexpected salvation after a thrilling first round. Thirty-three years ago, but in the end little has changed: relying on Sir Claudio is always an excellent choice.