The Unipol Domus stadium was attended by 30 thousand spectators, who paid tribute to Luigi ‘Gigi’ Riva, who passed away last Monday at the age of 79.
The game was interrupted after 11 minutes to remember the former Italian player, top scorer in the history of the ‘Azzurra’ and European champion in 1968, who wore Cagliari’s number 11 shirt for 13 seasons.
Before the start of the match, Riva’s name was mentioned in the Cagliari lineup, whose players wore a white shirt during the warm-up, like the one their predecessors wore in 1970, the year of the Sardinian team’s only title in the Italian Championship.
In the stands, fans displayed several banners in honor of Riva: “There will never be anyone like you”, “Thank you, Gigi”, “Goodbye, champion”.
“It was an emotional night, all the tributes moved me very much. His memory must guide us, it is something beautiful to be a representative of this club and Sardinia”, said Cagliari coach, Claudio Ranieri.
— Games from the 22nd round of the Italian Championship (Brasília time) and classification: