Davide Nicola, the Salernitana coach, loves bets. We can even say that they give him additional motivation. The Italian coach managed, on the wire, to keep his team in Serie A after having achieved an exceptional end to the championship. To celebrate this feat, the coach of Grenade promised to walk from the Stadio Arechi, in Salerno, to the Vatican to see the Pope… that is 280 kilometers.
The battle was far from won for the Salernitana and its coach. Landed in February 2022 to try to straighten out a club then last in Serie A, Davide Nicola has achieved the impossible. In mid-April, the Grenade were still 12 points behind Genoa and Cagliari to obtain the maintenance. But miraculously, on April 16, after three consecutive defeats, Salernitana won on the lawn of Sampdoria. A decisive victory for the Salerno team which will pocket 15 points out of 21 (4 wins, 3 shares) thereafter, whereas before mid-April, they had only managed to pocket 16 small points in… 30 days.
The maintenance validated, Davide Nicola will now have to keep his promise. “If the Salernitana is saved, I will walk to the Pope“, he said on the day of his presentation to the media. Nearly 280 kilometers to cover, between Salerno and Rome, for the Italian tactician. But this challenge should not scare him. Indeed, the 49-year-old is a regular at bets and miracles. In 2017, when he was still coach of Crotone, Nicola also managed to keep his team among the Italian elite while the Red Blue were in a mess. 19th in March, Crotone escaped on the gong by winning against Lazio on the final day. And in the process, Davide Nicola kept his promise, traveling 1300 kilometers to get in Turin… by bike.
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