Cagliari looking for three points tonight at 8.45pm with former Bellanova's Torino at the Domus.
Double objective: to keep out of the last three places and celebrate the death of Gigi Riva with victory.
A match that will be played in a very particular climate.
Ranieri and the club also preferred to skip the classic press conference the day before the match.
Cagliari shaken, but also charged.
The same recommendations from the coach before the match against Frosinone apply to Dossena and his teammates: no goals allowed.
The coach continues to alternate three or four rear guards.
But without yet finding the secret of imperforability.
Only three times has Cagliari finished the match without conceding a goal.
And it was three nil.
The first against Torino, on his championship debut.
The last one was at home against Empoli.
In Turin, Cagliari had presented a fairly cautious lineup.
But then he could focus on the restarts of Oristanio and Luvumbo.
Now Ranieri will have to come up with some other system: the under 21 team is injured, Luvumbo is still in the Africa Cup of Nations and on Saturday he will play the round of 16 with his Angola team.
Ranieri himself, at the end of the match against Frosinone, underlined that, among the causes of the continuous pressure from the home team, there was precisely the impossibility of restarting quickly with light and quick players like the two absent players.
The standings at the back are increasingly shorter: Cagliari now has to watch out for the return of Empoli who, with the arrival of Nicola, already look like a different team.
Five, including the rossoblù, the teams within four points.
Sassuolo ahead with 19, but with a game less.
Then Cagliari and Udinese tied at 18, Verona at 17, Empoli at 16. Last, trailing at 12, is Salernitana.
Probable lineups
Cagliari (4-4-2): 22 Scuffet, 99 Di Pardo, 3 Goldaniga, 4 Dossena, 27 Augello;
8 Nandez, 16 Prati, 29 Makoumbu, 37 Azzi;
10 Viola, 32 Petagna.
(1 Radunovic, 18 Aresti, 33 Obert, 23 Wieteska, 17 Hatzidiakos, 22 Zappa, 25 Sulemana, 14 Deiola, 21 Jankto, 30 Pavoletti, 28 Desogus, 9 Lapadula).
All.: Ranieri.
Suspended: none Notified of a booking: none Unavailable: Rog, Shomurodov, Luvumbo, Mancosu, Oristanio.
Turin (3-4-1-2): 32 Milinkovic-Savic;
61 Tameze, 4 Good Morning, 13 Rodriguez;
19 Bellanova, 28 Ricci, 77 Linetty, 20 Lazaro;
16 Vlasic;
9 Sanabria, 91 Zapata (1 Gemello, 71 Popa, 6 Zima, 11 Pellegri, 15 Sazonov, 27 Vojvoda, 47 Muntu, 66 Gineitis, 79 Savva, 81 Ciammaglichella).
All. Juric.
Disqualified: none.
Beware: Good morning, Tameze.
Unavailable: Djidji, Ilic, Karamoh, Radonjic, Schuurs, Soppy.
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