After the pre-match tribute , the entire Unipol Domus celebrated Leonardo Pavoletti at the end of Cagliari-Torino. Having mathematically secured safety with a matchday to spare , the captain was welcomed by the entire team, who awaited him on the pitch for another equally heartfelt and emotional farewell, his last home game. "You've always seen me smiling, but tonight it's not easy to smile: in fact, it's easier to cry," he told the fans, wearing his armband over his jacket. "First of all, I'd like to thank these wonderful lads for staying up and for the victory. I know they played a little for me too, so a big round of applause for them."
It's a moment of intense emotion that occurs just minutes after the final whistle of Cagliari-Torino, prolonging the celebrations for survival. "I could thank you for these nine years for so many things, but there's one that's special to me," says Pavoletti, who arrived in Sardinia in 2017. " Ever since I got injured, I've played less and scored less, your love has grown more and more, year after year . They say that in a man's life, true friends are discovered only in times of need: I can boast to the whole world that I had a city and a region behind me, I can't forget that."
In recent years, Pavoletti has often become the decisive man in decisive moments, as in the 94th minute in Bari in the match that secured promotion to Serie A. "When I got up from that bench, I knew, with your support, that I could overcome my limitations and my injuries. Those final ten minutes became very long for the opponents: many times I didn't manage it, but when we did, how beautiful it was ."
Pavoletti's moving message, broken several times by tears (his own and those of a good portion of the crowd), ends with a farewell: "Saying thank you is difficult, I can't find the words. I've taken a poem by a contemporary poet, one you know well, which goes like this: Cagliari, or rather Sardinia, you are as beautiful as a goal from Pavoletti in the 94th minute . Thank you." A jubilation from the crowd and fireworks erupted, with the captain lapping the pitch in all sections, finishing with 52 goals in 231 appearances. And finally, under the stands, he held up a drawing: a flag of the Four Moors, but with his own face in its place.