by Mirko Graziano
The Granata’s goals in the first half, the Sardinians’ forcing was useless in the final. Europe is now there: 22 points in the last 12 games, the pace of a great team
On Gigi Riva’s night, Toro hits a very heavy stack of stakes. Europe is now there: 22 points in the last 12 games, the pace of a great team. Cagliari, certainly shaken by terrible days, remains trapped in a truly critical area, on the edge of quicksand.
Gigi Riva everywhere. Before, during and after Cagliari-Toro. And in all of Sardinia there will be rumbles of thunder for a long time to come, that’s for sure. Streets, schools, shops, houses… A city covered in red and blue. Respect, love, pain, gratitude and a lot of pride: Gigi’s people with their chests out. was the standard bearer of social revenge, says Claudio Ranieri. Endless pilgrimages to the Bonaria Cemetery. Yesterday morning, among other things, at the tomb of the greatest Italian striker of all time it was the Toro managers who brought flowers, recited prayers and perhaps even shed a few tears together with Nicola Riva, who welcomed the Granata delegation in the name of the Pope . The Sardinian people, on the web, appreciated it. Gigi loved Toro and often cuddled Paolo Pulici, the Granata thunderclap, from a distance. Lots of music at the stadium: songs that tell the story of the champion, others that Riva himself listened to in private, especially those by Fabrizio De Andr. Accompanied by silence as the lineups were read (zero boos for Toro), then the speaker shouts: The number 11 will always and only be him, Gigi Riva. The fans explode. And on the big screen with the images of the golden times, the goals in Serie A and those in the national team, the close match in Italy-Germany 4-3, then the radio voices of Enrico Ameri and Sandro Ciotti. In the stands there were banners (No One Ever Comes Like You, In Olympus a Rumble of Thunder), flags, touching choreographies, chants and t-shirts of the magnificent Cagliari of 1970, the one that won the scudetto of course. The same shirts worn in the warm-up by today’s rossobl, then everyone went into the match with the number 11 on their chest, without sponsors. Minute of real silence, and right in the 11th minute, the long applause from the Unipol Domus. Today, however, I know that it was destiny: I know that I was going to my house, we read in Curva.
Toro passes after 23′ (devastating descent to the right by Bellanova, low center and winning turn by Zapata). Then they came close to doubling the score with a header from Sanabria (great flight from Scuffet), a strike from Zapata (the rossobl goalkeeper made up for it in a desperate exit) and an own goal attempt from Wieteska (another spectacular flight from Scuffet). In the middle, Jankto eats the 1-1 (header) after a disastrous exit by Milinkovic-Savic. Ricci scored the 2-0 in full injury time: right from the edge, to be honest, not irresistible. Ranieri reacts at the start of the second half: Pavoletti and Viola come on. Zapata (Scuffet rejects the Colombian’s close-range diagonal) and Bellanova (right from outside, to the side) are still dangerous. Then Pavoletti, with his head, engages Milinkovic-Savic. Lapadula also leaves the Sardinian bench. And in the 32nd minute Viola invents the 1-2 with a splendid left-footed shot. Rossobl assault, many dirty balls in the Granata area, but the hopes of a draw vanished following an amazing save by Linetty, who stopped Pavoletti a stone’s throw from Milinkovic.
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January 26, 2024 (modified January 26, 2024 | 11.27pm)
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