Lulù Oliveira, a former Cagliari player, has been living and training in the Veneto for some years. But Cagliari remains in his heart. Now that the rossoblù's preparation for the next Serie A is about to begin , remember that last June 11, the day of the rossoblù's return to Serie A.

“I went crazy that night too. Bari-Cagliari on June 11 is history. A great Cagliari, played well, indeed very well. Mister Ranieri had got everything right. Only the promotion goal was missing. I hoped and suffered. With ten minutes to go, I was scared. The goal didn't arrive, but when in the 94th minute I saw Zappa's shot and cross, I yelled, come on Pavo, this ball is for you. I approached the video, goal, goal. I haven't screamed like this since my days in the rossoblù shirt . Then the tears of mister Ranieri moved me, as I applauded the mister when he invited the Cagliari curve not to rage against the people of Bari. An evening of real football. I felt Sardinian. I rejoiced, thanks Cagliari for the emotion it gave me that evening».

Lulù Oliveira today coaches a team from the youth sector (made up of 600 members), in the province of Venice. He arrived in Veneto three years ago after leaving Muravera and Muravera where he played and coached. Remember his past, tells the first meeting with Claudio Ranieri, nineties. «I was playing for Fiorentina. Ranieri had pen and paper, he immediately gave me the first advice on how to play. I followed him closely throughout the season, he taught me so much. I remember him as a great technician, a very welcome man. He has made many masterpieces in his career. But the latter with Cagliari has something extraordinary. His secret? Don't leave anyone behind, look carefully at all his squad, without making a difference between the big names and the last of the boys. And again, getting into the heads of the players, making them all feel important. A teacher for me too. We have been together for a year, it was clear that he would have made his way, his successes in Italy and abroad remain written in the register of Italian football and beyond".

Oliveira says he is part of a group of former rossoblùs who are in constant contact. «Pusceddu, Di Bitonto, Firicano, many others, we exchange ideas, we follow Cagliari from afar. A love that won't fade away. Yet almost thirty years have passed since my time. Next season Ranieri knows what he has to do, he knows who to buy, he knows how he will make the team that has recovered Serie A play in a season full of twists and turns, marked by goals from Lapadula, from the unbridled runs of Luvumbo, from crazy goals scored against Parma when Serie A seemed already forgotten, by Makoumbu, a very strong player, a magnet for every ball. With Ranieri he will only be able to grow like Deiola, Dossena, Obert, Radunovic, Zappa, Azzi and Nandez if he stays».

Oliveira, Luis Airton Barroso, born in Brazil in 1969, arrived at Cellino's Cagliari in 1992. He wore the rossoblù shirt 145 times, scoring 45 goals. Uefa also played with Cagliari. In 1996 Ranieri's transfer to Fiorentina. Three years later, the return to Cagliari for a season to then play in half of Italy, then living in Muravera before moving to Veneto.

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