Cagliari’s rise gives Serie A a new Cinderella team this season

The team from the island of Sardinia has shocked Italian soccer with its dazzling start. Can Cagliari continue to shock opponents this season and finish in Serie A’s top four?

When it comes to Cinderella stories in Italian soccer, Atalanta has been all the rage the past few seasons. While they continue to punch above their weight class, there’s a new club hoping to shock everyone in Serie A: Cagliari.

Even regular Italian soccer fans may not have watched too many games featuring Cagliari, the  club from the capital city on the island of Sardinia. Founded in 1920, Gli Isolani (“The Islanders” in Italian) have only one league championship to their name. That title came in the 1969-70 season, led by star striker Luigi Riva.

Known as “Gigi,” Riva is widely considered one of the best players of his generation. The summer after winning the scudetto, he helped Italy reach the World Cup final in Mexico, only to lose to a Pele-led Brazil side in the final.

These days, Cagliari fans dreaming of another title may want to pump the brakes, but their form is starting to inspire hopes of of a top-four finish. Currently tied for third place with Lazio, Cagliari have become the league’s new Cinderella side. After all, we are still at a point in the season where anything can happen.

It’s still too early to speculate on how the top half of the table will look come May, nonetheless, Cagliari are off to a very good start and have exceeded preseason expectations after other title contenders (most notably Napoli) have underperformed in recent weeks.

Who doesn’t like a Cinderella story? For a league that has been very predictable at times (Juventus have won the title the past eight seasons), a team like Cagliari makes for a good story and a reason why neutrals may want to tune in each week. Everyone likes a team that can spoil a good championship party. In the end, Cagliari may end up being that team.

But after finishing 15th last year and just barely avoiding relegation, how did Cagliari get here? That’s a very interesting, and often untold, part of the story.

Brazilian striker Joao Pedro has seven goals in 13 games, putting him ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo. The 27 year old was a great find a few years ago, although it took him more time than usual to find his place among Italy’s top scorers. His partnership with Giovanni Simeone, who has four goals this season, has made for a formidable tandem. They’ve shredded opposing defenses in a surprising way, truly becoming something to marvel at.

That’s not all. The lineup coached by Rolando Maran, a former defender who spent much of his pro career in the lower divisions of Italy, has taken advantage of unwanted talent from other Italian clubs. Those castoffs include midfielders Marko Rog, on loan to Cagliari from Napoli this season, and veteran Radja Nainggolan, who spent the biggest chunk of his Serie A career at Roma and on loan from Inter Milan. These players, with plenty of Serie A experience, have been able to give Cagliari a level of quality that is rare for teams with such limited financial resources.

The latest display of Cagliari’s offensive talent came last Sunday at home against highly-touted Fiorentina. The 5-2 result was never in doubt as Fiorentina were never in it, adding two goals near the end of the contest after Cagliari had jumped to a 3-0 halftime lead.

The international break has given Cagliari a much-needed breather ahead of this week’s away game at 16th-place Lecce this coming Sunday. It’s a game that Cagliari, playing like they have, can and should easily win. That’s something Maran’s team couldn’t say just last year after narrowly avoiding relegation. What a difference a season can make.