Rossoblù with water in his throat. Third-bottom in the standings, they also study the past. Ballardini 13 years ago managed to score 18 points going up from last place to safety
CAGLIARI. Ten days to go and Cagliari find themselves with a slip knot in their throat. Third from last with just 22 points and a step lower than Torino, who must (perhaps) recover a match with Lazio. Terrible situation, with the ghosts of relegation shaking the sleeps of president Massimo Giulini, already relegated once in 2014, and of coach Leonardo Semplici. So many hopes are pinned on Joao Pedro, who has scored 13 goals so far.
2007/08 seasonWe have to turn to the past to cling to hope. The look goes back to the 2007/08 season, when with ten rounds to go the situation of Cagliari was even more desperate than now. The team, entrusted by the president Massimo Cellino to Davide Ballardini, after the sackings of Marco Giampaolo and Nedo Sonetti, was last in the standings with 24 points. In front, a step higher, Empoli and Reggine, while Parma was at 26 points and Livorno and Catania at 27.
Well that Cagliari made a real miracle, because in the final 10 days he conquered the beauty of 18 points. A record result for the rossoblù since the three points were awarded and the championship has twenty teams (2004/05 tournament).
Ballardini’s men in fact put together 5 wins, 3 draws and only 2 defeats (the knockouts were 16 in the first 28 rounds). At home 4 wins against Turin, Atalanta, Empoli and Fiorentina and equal against Roma and Reggina. Away success in Udine, a draw at Sampdoria, and defeats at home by Milan and Inter. Great protagonists of that sporting miracle, together with the current Genoa coach, were the goalkeeper Marco Storari and the bomber Robert Acquafresca, author of 6 goals in that segment of the championship.
Cagliari ended the tournament in 14th place, while Empoli, Parma and Livorno fell to B, which fell to last place, collecting just 3 points in 10 rounds. Numbers that remind Cagliari of how now even teams like Fiorentina, Spezia and Benevento, now 7 points above, can still risk relegation.
2014/15 season. At the opposite end of the rossoblù history in the last 15 Serie A championships, there is the 2014/15 vintage, the first of the Giulini era, culminating in the relegation. Repeated changes on the bench (Zeman, then Zola, then Zeman again and finally Festa) did not help the Cagliari team to avoid the fifth tumble in the cadet series.
With 10 rounds to go, Cagliari had 21 points, one less than they have now. With a situation that is already very complicated: in addition to Parma, last with 15 points (7 of which are penalized), Cagliari was penultimate together with Cesena. To recover 5 points to Atalanta placed at an altitude of 26.The hunt for salvation failed. Cagliari in fact put together 13 points, the result of 4 victories, 1 draw and 5 defeats. The third from last place remained until the end, with Atalanta who had just two points gnawed.
2017/18 season. Cagliari, with Diego Lopez on the bench after Rastelli’s exoneration, were involved in the fight not to be relegated in the last 10 days also in 2017/18. At 26, the Cagliari team had two points behind Spal and Crotone, third last. Thirteen points, in this case, were enough to avoid relegation. In B finished Benevento, Verona and Crotone then coached by Walter Zenga.
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