By dint of calling it fable he ended up doing her wrong. Why the happy ending, in fairy tales, it always comes thanks to the intervention of one magic force and superhuman, of an irrational element. The last six seasons of the Citadel, instead, they are the exact opposite: rationality elevated to system, cold realism, concreteness. Indeed, to use the words of his demiurge Roberto Venturato: “Meritocracy applied to football”. It is difficult to find a more appropriate definition. Because after hitting the promotion in B in 2016, this town in the province of Padua with less than 20 thousand inhabitants has always managed to reach the playoffs. And even though the promotion goal has always eluded her, no one has ever allowed herself to twist the mouth. On the other hand the working class in paradiso it’s just passing through. Otherwise it would turn into bourgeoisie.
In recent years Venturato has managed to create a low-cost colossal, to project grassroots football, what is played on dusty fields and bald, on unthinkable stages. And without spending a money. In the true sense of the word. This season the Citadel has the fourth to last installment of the Serie B. His squad, according to Transfermarkt data, is worth just 10.5 million euros. Only Cosenza (with 9.35) and Reggiana (8.53) are less “valuable”. The summer transfer market was anything but adrenaline for the fans of the “Citta”. Davide Diaw, hero of the past playoffs, was sold to Pordenone for 2 million (which then shot him at Monza in January). In its place came only loans and free-transfer players. A choice of prudence which became lectio magistralis in sefiminale, when the grenades were removed satisfaction to eliminate the millionaire Monza of Berlusconi e Galliani, of Balotelli e Boateng, a team that belongs more to Serie A than to the purgatory of B.
Hero of the double challenge was Enrico Baldini, a striker born in 1996 who, after playing in the Inter youth teams, traveled around Italy in search of an author. Small detail: the number 92, author of a hat-trick in the first leg, is the lowest paid player in Serie B, with a salary that revolves around 40 thousand euros. The appointment with history is set for Sunday evening, when al Tombolato, a facility with just over seven thousand seats that the Cittadella has almost never managed to fill, the Venezia by Paolo Zanetti. A challenge between two philosophy diverse, between the ant and the cicada of Aesop, between a team that struggles to appear in a football that has not yet belonged to it and one that has been aiming for a leap in quality for years.
To understand the Cittadella, first of all its own must be understood coach. Because in his life Roberto Venturato had to deal with one mess tin keep it going. His parents decide to emigrate to Atherton, center of 40 thousand inhabitants in the north-east ofAustralia. Roberto stayed there for ten years, until 1973. Then his mother and father decide to go back to Treviso area, to start again where everything seemed to be over. He starts playing in province. Spin a lot, change shirts and collect injuries. In 1990 he won the C1 championship with Venezia di Zaccheroni. But it won’t take root. The last stops are called Pergocrema, Treviso and Pizzighettone. This is where he takes off his play shirt and puts on his tracksuit coach.
First in the youth teams. Then for five years in the first team. And a village of 7 thousand souls becomes a case literary. Venturato takes a group of boys very different from each other and begins to shape it. His best player is Giovanni Parmesani. He is deployed as a left wing but only in the afternoon, because in the morning he makes the conveyor. The bomber of the team is a Leghorn who has decided to embrace Buddhism. Is called Matteo Gay and will be decisive for the climb of the Pizza. Many light up some cigarette after training, some of them instead study to finish the course of study in Law. Everyone will grow with Venturato. They will go from D to C1, in one ride which has allowed a small village to cross the cleats with the big cities.
That team gets the attention of Emiliano Mondonico, who offers Venturato the role of his deputy at the Cremonese. After two seasons with several changes on the bench he is promoted. Another climb begins. This time steeper. THE girigiorossi arrive in the final of the playoffs for Serie B. And lose against Varese. From the summit down to the valley again. Venturato wanders the D, between Pergolettese e Piacenza. Then in 2015 comes the call of the Citadel. This is where she begins to lay the foundations of her little one masterpiece. In the first year he centers the promotion from Lega Pro to B. And reaches the third place in the Ranking of the category “Panchina d’Oro”. With his players he is a hammer. Offensive football is the star Kite, the back four with the attacking midfielder and two tips the best way to follow it. His team plays ball on the ground, builds from the bottom and then verticalizes. It is a football made of technique, but above all of collective effort, a dogma which feeds on the idea of overcoming one’s own limits to overcomeopponent.
“Eleven players play on the pitch and everything is possible”, he repeats to the team. Up to convince her that it’s true. “Our secret is there competence of who built this squad – says in 2016 to Republic – we fished players who had not yet had the skill of a bit everywhere to blow up, or lucky enough to play with continuity. We have supported the team with many promises ”. Over the past five seasons the Citta has always floated between fifth and seventh place. And it has always come to the playoff. The biggest regret is dated 2019. The grenades reach the final against Verona which is worth the A. Al Tombolato Davide Diaw, who four years earlier worked as warehouse worker and played in the amateurs, scores a brace. The way back seems to be all downhill. Yet the amaranths stumble and fall ruinously. In Veneto ends 3-0. The promotion is fromHellas. A defeat that, today, the boys of Venturato have the ability to redeem. But maybe the Citadel has already made history.
