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·26 January 2024

Serie A | Cagliari 1-2 Torino: Granata rain on Riva tribute

Cagliari paid tribute to icon Gigi Riva, but were unable to dedicate a victory to him, as Duvan Zapata and Samuele Ricci gave Torino a rare away win.

This was an emotional evening, as Cagliari legend Riva died on Monday and was commemorated with flags, video clips of his 1970 Scudetto success here and the jerseys had his iconic 11 on the chest.

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The Sardinians were without Gaetano Oristanio, Marco Mancosu, Eldor Shomurodov and Marko Rog on the treatment table, with Zito Luvumbo at the Africa Cup of Nations. Toro missed Nemanja Radonjic, Brandon Soppy, Koffi Djidji and Perr Schuurs.

Ibrahim Sulemana sprained his ankle in the opening minutes and tried twice to come back on after treatment before he was forced to make way for Matteo Prati.

Torino took the lead when former Cagliari winger Raoul Bellanova completed a quick give and go to burst down the right and roll across, where Duvan Zapata got in front of Mateusz Wieteska to slide in from six yards.

Jakub Jankto tried to set up a similar tap-in at the other end, but his pass was too close to Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, then Simone Scuffet needed a sensational save to claw an Antonio Sanabria header off the line.

Jankto thought he had scored with a header from the tightest of angles that caught Milinkovic-Savic out of position, but it was cleared off the line by Karol Linetty.

Milinkovic-Savic did better moments later using his legs to parry the Jankto angled drive after a smart Andrea Petagna knockdown.

Duvan Zapata shrugged off two tackles to test Scuffet at the near post, then the Cagliari goalkeeper made another desperate save to prevent the Wieteska own goal on a chaotic corner.

Torino did double their lead in first half stoppages when Samuele Ricci nutmegged Wieteska, cut inside from the left and the finish went through Scuffet’s legs.

Gabriele Zappa’s free header from a corner floated just over the bar and a Leonardo Pavoletti attempt was plucked out of the air.

Ricci also went off with an ankle injury, then Nahitan Nandez sent Petagna clear only for the central finish to go straight at Milinkovic-Savic.

Torino should’ve had a third on another Bellanova counter, but first Sanabria failed to connect, then Valentin Lazaro saw his strike parried by Scuffet.

Alberto Dossena had a free header from a corner, only to nod it into the ground, but Cagliari did get back into it with a sensational Nicolas Viola solo effort. He controlled a throw-in with his back to goal, turned and curled an unstoppable strike into the far top corner with his left boot.

An absolute stunner from Nicolas Viola 🤯 The curl on that strike 😮‍💨 TNT Sports and @discoveryplusUK 📺 pic.twitter.com/oOlPThx17Q — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 26, 2024

The hosts poured forward, Pavoletti unable to get clean contact on the corner from four yards and then drilling wide as the move continued.

Just as they were throwing everything forward in stoppages, Toro struck on the counter-attack with substitute Pietro Pellegri tapping in the Mergim Vojvoda roll across from the right. However, Vojvoda was offside and the goal was disallowed.

Saba Sazonov made a desperate block on Lapadula, then from the resulting corner a Dossena header redirected by Lapadula had to be cleared practically off the line again by Sazonov.