Claudio Ranieri leaves Cagliari. Now it's official . The rossoblù coach has communicated to the club and the fans his intention to leave after the splendid salvation obtained on Sunday on the Sassuolo pitch. Thus ends a long love story, which lasted 36 years and consisted of three promotions and two salvations, both obtained on the penultimate matchday .
The video in which the Roman coach announces his farewell to the rossoblù colors was published on the social profiles of Cagliari Calcio: «My journey began in '88. Three wonderful years, then I left and grew up. Now it seems right to me to leave after another promotion, which perhaps we didn't expect so immediately when I arrived in January, and after this salvation . It's a painful, hard decision, made reluctantly but it's right to leave now . I prefer to go like this and not maybe stay another year and things aren't going well. I want to leave a good memory."
Sir Claudio admits that he hesitated a lot before accepting this second adventure on the island, and reveals that it was Gigi Riva's words that convinced him: «I was already afraid of returning, I was afraid of tarnishing the three years that I lived here and that I they filled my heart. In moments of difficulty I clung to Cagliari and this happy island. I didn't want to ruin it and I didn't want to go back. Then when I read Gigi Riva's words (“Claudio is one of us”) I came back . I said to myself, let's leave selfishness alone and go and take a risk. But now the time has come to leave us."
«I hope to be remembered as a positive person, who asked the people of Cagliari and Sardinia for help», continues Ranieri, who once again underlines, as he has often done in these two years, the importance of the fans. «Without them we wouldn't have made it, the public never abandoned us, they always followed us and always believed my words . For this I am eternally grateful to you, you have made me experience a wonderful year and a half . I hope I have been a worthy representative of Cagliari and the whole of Sardinia. Thursday will be the last match and I will hug you warmly ."
Ranieri's, at 72 and a half years of age, should also be a farewell to football , unless a call comes from some national team. The Roman coach had said that Cagliari would be his last adventure in a club team .
(Unioneonline/L)