Claudio Ranieri directed his last game as a professional soccer coach this Thursday. The 72-year-old Italian coach announced his retirement at the end of the Serie A season, in which he was managing Cagliari.
The fans filled the stadium to thank Ranieri, but the farewell was bitter: Cagliari lost 2-3 at home to Fiorentina, who won with a goal from Brazilian Arthur Melo in the thirteenth minute of added time.
“What we have managed to do, we have done together,” Ranieri declared at the end of the game. Before, the ‘tifosi’ unfurled a banner that read: “Eternal gratitude to a great man.”
He managed several of Italy’s greats, but his greatest achievement was leading modest Leicester City to win the Premier League in the 2015-16 season. That year he won Fifa’s The Best award for best coach of the year.
Ranieri coached several Colombian footballers in his career. The most notable, Radamel Falcao García and James Rodriguez, with whom he fought for the Ligue 1 title with Monaco in the 2013-14 season. Both arrived as reinforcements after the Italian obtained promotion with the club a year earlier.
Yerry Mina’s gratitude to Claudio Ranieri
“I especially want to thank Mr. Claudio Ranieri for his trust and above all for his wonderful career. “It has been a true honor to be under your guidance, to receive your advice and I wish you the best in this new stage of your life,” wrote Mina, in Italian.
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