PRESS CONFERENCE | President Giulini after salvation

Cagliari president Tommaso Giulini spoke this way to the media after the arithmetic salvation won with one day in advance in Reggio Emilia, with the 2-0 win at home to Sassuolo.

AT THE FINISH LINE WITH AND FOR GIGI RIVA
“The dedication for this salvation goes to Gigi Riva, who represented Cagliari and Sardinia for decades, writing its history. We could not relegate in the year Gigi passed away. He has always been close to me in recent years, in complicated moments above all. He was instrumental in the return of the Mister, convincing him in the face of the fear of not making it, given the waters we were navigating when he arrived. Thanks to his public endorsement we are now here celebrating as we did in Bari, so my first thought now obviously goes to Gigi. When he left us it was one of the most difficult moments: we found ourselves in Bonaria, we understood that this season could not end in a different way than this one we are experiencing today.”

UNDER THE FANS WITH THE COACH
‘Ranieri called me on the pitch at the end of the game to go together under the Curva with our fans, we created a good relationship with him. The merit of salvation belongs to those who have represented this club for over 50 years: that’s why the dedication for this salvation goes to Gigi Riva. All the fans who came here and followed us were even more united thanks to Gigi and thanks to the coach. Ranieri put the cherry on top with this year’s salvation and promotion from Serie B in 2023. After the excitement of Bari’s incredible promotion in the 94th minute, we thought and hoped to start off better, making a market with youngsters to add to more experienced elements. We struggled in a first round in which the results were not coming with continuity. The well-targeted market in January, with the arrivals of Mina and Gaetano, gave us a lot. After the game against Lazio we seemed to be in a downward spiral, then there was the press conference in which I called the players to their responsibilities. At that moment we wanted to unite the group as much as possible. After the game against Genoa we were very angry, but we started again immediately. The expulsion of Gaetano against Lecce did not allow us to take advantage of the first match point, but today we did not make a mistake’.

A NEW MILESTONE
‘In Venice in May 2022 the world collapsed on us, it was the worst moment of my life after the loss of my father, the other person to whom I dedicate this salvation because today would have been his birthday. Without my father I wouldn’t be here today, when I saw that the game was being played on 19 May I realised that we would leave here with the three points for sure’.

THE PATH
‘After the match against Lazio I made the lads face up to their responsibilities, because perhaps some had not immediately understood where they had arrived and how important it is to wear the Cagliari shirt. The matches against Atalanta, Inter and Juventus were the symbolic matches of our season, we built it there. I wish Sassuolo a return to Serie A soon: the Squinzi family, with the patron I met when he led Confindustria, and Director Carnevali have taught us how to make football with seriousness and professionalism in the province, writing a piece of history in Serie A and Italian football. I feel sorry for them, I hope they will soon return to the highest levels’.

THE COACH’S WORK
‘As long as he wants, the coach will be on this bench, beyond the existing contract expiring in June 2025. Only he could save this team, no one could replace him in the running. After Lazio he gave a signal to the group, which responded magnificently: he made it clear and reiterated the way we have to play football in Cagliari, something that has been missing in the past due to some mistakes and also negative circumstances, such as the post-Covid. What the coach has already been able to do must serve as a lesson for the future and for all of us. The few times he makes mistakes he admits it, I have grown so much with him over the past year and a half. Let’s take the Bari gesture, when he warned our fans not to disrespect the opposing fans: for years with my wife and the ‘Carlo Enrico Giulini’ Foundation we have been carrying out this discourse in schools and many projects related to healthy cheering starting with the youngest, but that gesture was the crowning achievement of our journey and in a moment it gave a message of enormous significance. We went to dinner with the coach and Bonato, we talked and I’m sure he’s thinking about it with his wife, as he did after Bari. But he knows how much we would like him to stay for a long time. Because the union that has been created in this year and a half is really strong and I saw some players at the end of the game convinced they can do even better next year. And that hasn’t happened to me for a long time. I think the coach will think about it before he leaves now, I’m convinced of that.’

A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE
‘In 2019 we raised the bar after the sale of Barella, that defeat against Lazio at the end of 2019 and then the advent of Covid completely changed the context: today it is another football, another Cagliari, another economy, and Cagliari today must work with young people, capitalise, look to the future, investing in a targeted manner: Prati is my pride, I fought to get him, we spent a little more that we then paid on the rest of the summer market, but Matteo will become a great player if he keeps this mentality and work culture. Ditto Sulemana, another addition from our 2023 summer; Mina and Gaetano in January were thanks to Director Nereo Bonato, they shored up the team with great precision, but this is a strong group, built up over the years and strengthened step by step: today we saw two 2003 players on the pitch, one a starter and the other in goal, and then Luvumbo and Obert from 2002, tangible signs of our philosophy’.

THE RENEWAL OF DIRECTOR BONATO
‘Nereo Bonato will be with us for another two years. We restart from our sporting director and from many of these youngsters who have given so much, we restart from the work we started in 2022, slowly building the rise from Serie B and then the stages that have brought us here. Our coach showed courage again today by fielding many youngsters who have created the hard core of this team and from which we will build our future. Bonato brought us Mina and Gaetano in January, who were surgically crucial. He and business and media director Stefano Melis were fundamental in putting a few pieces back in place after the painful relegation two years ago. How can we improve? Certainly we will have to be better, because some mistakes were made this summer. If the first half of the year did not go as we expected, there is obviously some responsibility and we must always aim to improve by learning from our mistakes.’

TOWARDS FIORENTINA
‘We will prepare the match against Fiorentina to honour the championship in the best possible way, as everyone must do. In this sense the coach has sent out an important message about the need to play the decisive matches at the same time, I believe that a person like Ranieri should be listened to more by those who manage football, he has the wisdom that is needed’.

SPECTACULAR FANS
‘Our people have supported us throughout the season, even in difficult moments, always behind us no matter what. These guys put in all the effort they could to achieve salvation and I think the fans should be proud of the group that never gave up, even in the most complicated moments. These wonderful people never stopped supporting us, salvation goes to all of them. Today there were more than 4,000 to support us, it was like playing at home. It was a complicated match, we experienced strong emotions as we have all year, today it is right to enjoy it all together’.

TEN YEARS OF CAGLIARI
‘Eight out of ten seasons in Serie A, 80%: I am proud of that. I am often reminded and in some way thrown back in my face of the statements of ten years ago, when I spoke of Europe and ambitions: I repeat that I would like to be able to fight for something more, Atalanta, Bologna and Torino have succeeded, we too could have a season similar to that of the granata, we must be ambitious but with rationality. We came close in 2019, then came Covid and anyway a beautiful salvation. It could have been the year we all dreamed of. Objectively, today’s football is really difficult and it’s hard to think you can constantly stay in those positions, think of how many important clubs are in Serie B or even Serie C. If a strong ownership like that of Como or Parma arrived, I would be the first to hand over my hand, also because in these ten years I have had great joy and satisfaction. But as long as I am at the helm of the club we must keep our feet on the ground and start again from the young, with great pragmatism and seriousness. Cagliari and the coach have made a miracle by building a salvation with certain principles: this will be the policy because as long as I am there, I don’t want to deceive anyone’.

THE NEW STADIUM
‘We have a team made up of many young people and many Italians on the pitch. The coach has performed another sporting miracle. There are many rankings for which we are proud, occupying the first position or positions, not only that of the ‘load factor’, the stadium fill rate. We are less happy to have been waiting seven years for the new stadium: there are so many bodies that have to have their say one after the other. Now one is missing, the one on environmental impact assessment (PAUR, ed). These delays are becoming frustrating and tiring. It is time for the institutions to take their responsibilities, going beyond and augmenting what my friend Andrea Abodi (Minister of Sport, ed) is doing’.