Riva and the Cagliari championship 50 years ago: “An unforgettable day”

CAGLIARI – " The most beautiful memory of my football history". The reference is to the victory against Bari and the mathematical conquest of the championship: April 12, 1970, half a century ago.

And the words are by Gigi Riva , the bomber. Cagliari and the National team (still boasts the all-time record, 35 goals in 42 appearances in blue ).

In fact, Rumble of thunder, of that feat that changed football by bringing the tricolor for the first time south of Rome, he really noticed the next day.

“The morning after that game – he says exclusively to ANSA – was perhaps even more beautiful. Nice because after Bari we seemed to dream.

But when we woke up they really realized what we had done. We only understood it then.

It was Monday: there was no training, but with the team and Scopigno, who had to leave for Rome in the evening, we met at Amicora.

Empty, while 24 hours earlier it was packed. There, in the silence, we looked at each other. And we realized it was all true. "

Before, even when the team was at the top of the standings , the word scudetto was almost taboo.

“We never talked about it – Riva confesses on the phone from his home in Cagliari – we played safely. But even though we realized that we were going really fast, we continued to pretend nothing was the way we lived that moment ”.

On the day of Cagliari-Bari also Scopigno realized that this was not an ordinary game.

“Usually – Riva says – he never spoke to the team before the game. But that day he made an exception. Calmly he said to us: boys, you have come this far. See a little bit what you have to do. "

In front of him was a Riva that hadn't slept a night before.

“In fact, before every game I could never sleep. Even that night was like that, I wanted to rest but I couldn't. "

And dawn was almost a blessing .

“We had an appointment with the team mates as usual at the Corallo restaurant – he says – then we headed towards the stadium. It was felt that there was something special, but we were calm. I, despite the sleepless night, was fine, I felt charged. "

Then, after the interview with Scopigno , the exit from the changing rooms:

“I remember a spectacular audience, thousands of people asking for one thing.

The truth? No, we weren't nervous. We played our usual game with our usual mentality. We conducted it smoothly and surprises. And the goals have arrived ”.

One of his, of course. And the other by Bobo Gori . Another result was needed, however: the "mathematical" flag was linked to the Olimpico game.

“We were not thinking about anything but playing and winning – Riva recalls – we did not care at the moment of what was happening elsewhere.

But how things were going between Lazio and Juventus we understood it from the bench and above all from the noise that the public made. "

Then the final whistle:

“It was like a dream, we all hugged and hugged each other. We were one, who played and who played less.

When we went down to the locker room there was Scopigno in tears. And the audience was ecstatic. I think that none of those who were there that day can ever forget what happened in that game. "

The yellow of the number 11 shirt on the day of the Scudetto remains .

"I gave it to Loseto – reveals Riva – the player who marked me: I promised him when we were entering the field".

Just that Loseto who left him without goals in the first leg, in Bari. Then a party that never ended in the middle of a city that had taken to the streets and did not want to know more about going back to sleep.

“A party full of joy – Rombo di Tuono remembers – beautiful also because the Cagliari fans behaved splendidly.

We thought we were living a dream, at that moment we didn't realize anything. We went to dinner, then we finished the evening at Arrica's house (the vice president, the real architect of the purchase of Riva a few years earlier, ed) ".

The scudetto in Cagliari, something incredible.

“No, even when things were going well it was a thought away from our imagination. I was just a boy who came from Leggiuno, far away, to play in Serie B.

We went up to A, but the championship was something unthinkable. Not budgeted, even when the season that brought us to the first place began.

And instead the championship has arrived. An immense satisfaction achieved thanks to our character and our temperament. A championship that we deserved to win. Unforgettable ”(source Ansa, article DI STEFANO AMBU).

Source: Blitz Quotidiano

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