What has struck you the most since you returned to Cagliari?
“I can't say I was more impressed. And I can't even say: it hit me. I expected the affection of the fans, but it went above and beyond. They have been immense and I will never stop thanking them. Throughout my career, when my wife saw me smile more when someone stopped me, she said to me: are they Sardinian? Am I from Cagliari? Because he saw me that I had just another smile. I'm usually always available, but when a Sardinian, a Cagliaritan stopped me, my heart really opened up, so I expected something warm, but really they were magnificent. They were wonderful on Saturday to keep up with us, to push the team. There will be difficult moments and in those moments they have to help us, because if we were to go to Serie A, a lot will also depend on the fans. It will depend on me, on the boys, on everyone, but they will be the main architects, because in times of difficulty they will have to understand and help the boys on the pitch».
She finished training a few hours ago. Always in the front row: I don't mind the players, but you seemed the most excited today too!
«The coach has to charge the team. I believe there is an interchange, an osmosis, because who motivates the motivator? I say that they are my boys: seeing how they train, how they commit themselves, they give me the energy so that I can give it back».
Claudio Ranieri chose L'Unione Sarda for the first interview after his return to Cagliari. He arrives at the editorial office, at six in the evening, after having moved alone in the traffic slowed down by the rain. Embrace our Ivan Paone ("Are you still here?"), shake dozens of hands, there's a photo for everyone. It looks like a curve. Ranieri appreciates and thanks. And he says he's ready, taking a seat in the studio, to host the Videolina news ("But only in a few years", he says). "Coffee? No thanks. I just had a juice."
During training, a few hours ago, she yelled at the boys: "Live this moment as if it were the match".
«But yes, because, in practice, you have to play the game first, I'm already playing it. Just like I finished the game against Como, I went to watch the first leg, the games Cittadella played. How he plays, how he presses, how he does. It's important that the boys know this and I've already shown them some clips from the match against the Citadel. We have to be ready, because if you go there and you're not ready, in addition to suffering, you will definitely lose. So I say: we go there prepared. Then yes, there are the episodes of the match, sport is also good for this, because you can never say I go and win. We go with the desire to do well and to take as many points as possible. Saturday with the Cittadella and then in all the games that will follow. Always respecting the opponent».
Have you found a home in Cagliari, mister?
"Yes, I have found a house, I will enter the house on Monday, when my wife returns".
Sea? Center?
«Hmm… Along the way».
How much has Cagliari changed?
"A lot, it's changed a lot. I saw that there are new neighborhoods, new roads, new ring roads. She's grown a lot."
Has it happened to you, in these thirty years, to go back often?
“No, often not. I returned for the last match at Sant'Elia, meeting many friends on and off the pitch».
You, as a coach, had been out for almost a year, after being sacked at Watford. What convinced you to return to Cagliari?
“So, I live for the emotions. There were several requests that never materialised. And I who am a fatalist say: what is behind it? Because I don't go here, I don't go there, because this negotiation doesn't close. Where did I want to get to? I wanted to come here to Cagliari. I wasn't very ready after Watford. I suffer a lot when they send them away. I didn't accept the first requests because I couldn't load the players, because if I don't load myself, I can't give my all. In my career I have had good times and bad times. And in bad times I remembered that experience in Cagliari. I said to myself: I'm going. What if I can't give what we all dream of? But then… Gigi Riva's son, Gigi who an interview says Claudio is one of us. President Giulini who insisted. The sporting director, the administrator Carlo Catte, came to the house. There was a pressure that led me to say: why should I be selfish and not take risks? The memory will always remain, but it will be a new adventure which, I hope, will end up like the one many years ago».
How did your family experience this choice?
(Laughs) «They know that I don't know how to stay inside the house».
Who will follow you in Cagliari?
“My wife, my wife. We have been married 46 years. I'll make you move again!"
How was your day without football?
“It was kind of boring. I saw time go by. Oh God, I played with the grandchildren, then I saw a lot of football. But if you're not the main player in football… I don't see myself, I still don't see myself. I still want to work, to teach these kids, so here I am."
From 3 January back in the front row. How many hours does the Cagliari coach work?
«Not the coach of Cagliari. I believe that all of us coaches work 25 hours a day. Because in addition to what we do on the pitch and everything, you want it or you don't want it, and the idea comes to you and tells you but maybe this or that other opponent, maybe if I put it this way it's better, so a coach always works, works always".
Are Claudio Ranieri and social media two distant worlds?
«Me and social media have nothing to do with it. I don't have any profile. But I know that it is a universal message that, above all, young people use».
His relationship with journalists.
«I have to be honest, I think it has always been good. I had an uncle who, with Angiolillo, had founded Il Tempo. As a child he took me two or three times to the editorial office! Apart from that, I understand the needs of journalists. Sure, we coaches can't say everything, sometimes we are taken for granted, but this is also to protect certain things. There is the clash, sometimes, hot. But I think I have a good relationship."
Let's leave sport for a moment. What do you think of the arrest of boss Matteo Messina Denaro?
«Congratulations to the Carabinieri and to all those who worked in the shadows to track him down. I was following a broadcast, they said: will he speak? I think he will never speak.'
The first female premier, Giorgia Meloni, has a Sardinian father but is Roman from Rome like her. The match has just begun. How?
“I see a determined woman. I'm being honest, I didn't vote for it, but I'm liking it. He has clear ideas, he knows he has to fight and he is doing it. Good luck".
Soon we will vote for the Regionals in Lazio. Before we fought over rubbish in Rome, now over wild boars for a walk… And yet it is the most beautiful city in the world.
«And the most beautiful city in the world, however, evidently has the biggest problems in the world. And yet we Romans do our part: it seems to me that many times we don't love our city».
Two World Cups without Italy… Sadness.
«Yes, it's a great sadness, but it fits, it fits in football. We won a European Championship, Mancini was very good. And then they probably got to know us, they studied us, we weren't able to repeat those convincing tests. With that pinch of luck or bad luck that is a constant in sport».
Who were you rooting for, without the Azzurri?
"For Argentina! Back then, I was rooting for Morocco. Then for Argentina».
What void does Gianluca Vialli leave?
"Gorgeous person. Gorgeous man. He leaves his calmness, his balance as a legacy».
Vialli chose to live in London. Have you ever been tempted to move out of Italy? You have worked in Spain, England, France, Greece…
«I have a house in London, but I have to go back to Italy. Gianluca had married an English girl, so it was normal to stay there».
While he was winning the Premier League with Leicester, did he keep learning about Italian football? And maybe on Cagliari?
«The eye always fell on Cagliari. It was one of the first results, if not the first, that I went to see».
Looking at Serie A, it looks like Napoli's year.
“I wish you so. I wish him that because Spalletti deserves it. The fans deserve it. And Napoli is playing really great football».
Did you know the president Tommaso Giulini?
«I knew him as president of Cagliari, but not personally. And not as I know him now.'
And what idea is he doing?
«Of a man who loves Cagliari, an entrepreneur who has spent a lot and who hasn't reaped as much as he sowed. I hope that the new sporting director Nereo Bonato and I can do our best to repay the passion and great efforts of president Giulini».
Did you ever speak, after your arrival in Cagliari, with Fabio Liverani?
«No, but it doesn't belong to me to talk to those who have worked before, because I want to evaluate players, the environment and everything with my own eyes».
In the first conference he referred to the sense of belonging…
"Yes, it's very important to me."
For us Sardinians it is pure DNA. Seeking consent or do you think you know us?
“No, I don't think I know you, honestly. I know that you are very closed and you want to understand who is in front of you. Then you open up afterwards. But you form a solid core. This is what I ask of the team. I didn't say it to get consensus. You show me the consents in a thousand ways, the fans show them to me. I believe in what I say. I want my team to understand the reality of Sardinia. And when they go on the field they don't belong to the team, they belong to the Island. And I want them to show Sardinian pride. Sardinian determination. The Sardinian Union».
Claudio Ranieri stops and smiles.
"I did not want to...".
Laughter is contagious.
«I didn't want to advertise you, but that's what I ask my players. Being a team means being united. Being a team means helping each other. Mutual help is too important to me. Those who don't play are more important than those who are playing because you don't win championships with the eleven, the thirteen who always go on the pitch. You win them with those who enter for a few games but give you one hundred percent, one hundred and ten percent. Those are the men who make you understand that yes, the group is solid».
Was there no space among your rossoblù warriors for Pereiro?
«Pereiro is an excellent player, but for my football I need fast people, who think quickly, who don't hold the ball for me, who play vertically if possible. Pereiro is a football artist, but in my opinion he needed another type of team or league."
Market: requests? Directions? Tips?
“We talk every day. That's for sure."
Nainggolan?
«I also read that he would like to come. If Radja fell into the climate of Serie B, changing register..."
Pavoletti how are you?
“He's got a sprain, we're looking into it. I hope to have it soon."
Tomorrow afternoon (today, ed) the press conference before the away game with Cittadella. Can you give us any previews? Who will play up front?
«Well, Lapadula plays up front. In goal (smile) Radunovic… No, I'm not doing pre-tactics. It's that, really, I use the evening before the game to summarize the whole week. Who convinced me about the boys. I alerted four or five players. Let's see who answers me."
A few days ago you spoke about the new stadium. For her it would be the fourth, in Cagliari…
"It would be nice, it would be nice. I'm not saying until 2032, but if the stadium arrives in three or four years... I'm starting to think about it. Because I'm hard to give up."
How did you find the Assemini sports centre? She who also took the boys to Monte Urpinu.
"Beautiful. I stopped by to see the field at Poetto where I trained. This is my field, I told myself, near the racecourse. The Assemini sports center is a marvel. It looks like a resort."
How many invitations to dinner have you accumulated since you returned to Cagliari? And how much time do you really have for friends in your day?
«Let's say that I'm very homely. Yesterday evening I had the good fortune and the pleasure of going to greet my first president, Tonino Orrù. I was very pleased to meet him."
And then there's the problem of avoiding the temptations of the board.
«And indeed. I always try to diet, super diet. I've only got one day off in a week to go astray."
What is it, mister, Monday? Does it depend on when you play?
“If I may, the evening after the game, whether it's won or lost. When you lose, I don't sleep… In fact, it's incredible, this happens to me. When I lose, my eyes close immediately. When I win, the andreanaline flows from me. Evidently when I lose I can't wait to sleep so that the next day comes to start fighting again and get everything back on track».
Did you get to hear from Gigi Riva?
«No, but I will still hear from Nicola, the son, because I would like to go and meet him».
Gianfranco Zola – you coached him 210 times with two teams, Napoli and Chelsea – was at the stadium for the "premiere" of his return.
"We hugged, I was very pleased to greet him."
Is there a place of your heart, for you, in Sardinia?
«I was fascinated by the beach of Chia. I'd like to go back soon."