Gonzalo Higuain on Saturday will go up against his former club, which he left during the summer in pursuit of trophies.
Gigi Riva joined Cagliari in 1963. He was just 18 years old and "pissed off at life." He had lost his father at the age of 9, and his mother at 16. "I arrived as an orphan," he later said. "But, in Cagliari, I found a new family."
It was one that he would never let down, never betray — not even when Juventus offered Cagliari a billion lire and nine players for him in 1970, after the prolific No. 9 had inspired the Islanders to the one and only Serie A title triumph in their history. By that stage, Riva had formed an unbreakable bond with the Sardinians' supporters that went far beyond football. He had come to realize that the game was a means of expression for a long-suffering people.
"Our opponents shouted 'thieves,' 'bandits' and 'sheep' at us," he said. "The referees were always against us. When I saw these buses of Cagliari fans arriving from Germany, Holland and England for our games in Milan or Torino, it wasn't the joy of sport you saw in their eyes but the joy of being Sardinian. It was pride. How could I leave them?"
He never would. More importantly, he never regretted winning just one title with Cagliari rather than several Scudetti with Juve.
"I feel proud of the choices that I've made in my life as a player and a citizen," he later declared. "Because I'm certain that without Sardinia and its people, Gigi Riva would never have existed."
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