Cagliari-Cosenza is a Serie B Week 19 match to be played on Monday at 15:00: odds, predictions, TV and streaming.
Thirty years after that memorable ride from the C to the A, Claudio Ranieri returns to Cagliari, where – after all – his coaching career began. At the age of 71, the Roman coach therefore accepts a new, intriguing challenge: to bring the Sardinians back into the top flight, lost last year after the suicide of Venice on that incredible last day.
An arrival by popular acclaim, we could call it, that of the protagonist of the greatest sporting feat of recent years: winning the Premier League with Leicester in 2016. President Giulini, after having given Fabio Liverani the boot – exonerated after the defeat in Palermo, the second in the last three days – this time he has supported the will of the public, who were clamouring for the return of the expert coach who, at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, brought Casteddu back to the football that counts. To see Ranieri on the Rossoblù bench again, however, we will have to wait until January: the new coach has signed until 2025 but will not arrive in Sardinia immediately. In the last match of 2022 against Cosenza, Roberto Muzzi, club manager of the islanders, will be on the bench.
The situation in which Cagliari find themselves is alarming: 22 points and 12th place in the standings, four lengths away from the eighth position, the last valid to make the playoffs. A gap that can still be bridged, but the red-blues – who have only won one match since October – cannot make any more mistakes. It is imperative to beat a team in free fall like Cosenza, who after three draws in a row against Cittadella, Perugia and Brescia, suffered two defeats against Venezia (2-0) and Ascoli (1-3), slipping to the penultimate position.
Cagliari-Cosenza: the latest line-up news
The ferryman Muzzi should opt for the 4-3-1-2, with Falco behind the two strikers Lapadula and Pavoletti. The former Di Pardo will recover, but on the left, in defence, Barreca will most likely act. Deiola, Mancosu, Rog and Ciocci remain in the infirmary.
Larrivey, the great ex of this challenge
With the Lupi still missing Calò: his quality would have come in handy for coach Viali, who plans to launch Dane Kornvig from the 1′, flanked by Florenzi and Voca. The attack will be led by the other great ex, Larrivey, who has a very special relationship with Cagliari, being the club that brought him to Italy for the first time back in 2007.
The prediction
The reaction should come from Cagliari, rejuvenated by the news of Ranieri’s arrival, against what is currently one of the most struggling teams in Serie B, as well as the one that has conceded the most goals (30). The Rossoblù are likely to score at least two goals, ending both halves of the game in the lead.
Cagliari v Cosenza likely line-up
- CAGLIARI (4-3-1-2): Radunovic; Zappa, Altare, Obert, Barreca; Nandez, Viola, Kourfalidis; Falco; Lapadula, Pavoletti.
- COSENZA (4-3-2-1): Marson; Rispoli, Rigione, Vaisanen, Martino; Kornvig, Voca, Florenzi; Brignola, D’Urso; Larrivey.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-0
