Barella bids emotional farewell to Cagliari
"Dear Rossoblu fans, dear Society, dear President, dear Companions, I am living a strange situation. My career as a professional footballer is taking me away from my homeland, from my city, from my family and from my closest friends. It is taking me over the sea, away from home. From my home: Cagliari. I could say that it has been since the day I joined the youth, but perhaps it always has been, because I am a lucky boy: I had the chance to defend, on the field, the colours of the team for which I supported as a child.
"I realised my dream, born in the suburbs, when as a child my father took me to his games and to boro campo, wearing a Cagliari shirt I kicked balls bigger than me. Growing up, I went regularly to the stadium, to suffer for our colors. I admired the class of champions like Andrea Cossu, Marco Sau and Daniele Conti from the stands.At one point I found myself training and sharing the locker room with them: I'm not telling you the excitement of the first time I crossed the locker room of the first Asseminello team. From all of them I tried to learn something, technically and otherwise. They were good teachers: they conveyed to me the sense of sacrifice, the value of suffering and participation. I tried to work hard to help the team achieve its goals. On the pitch I gave everything, always from the first to the last minute, in every game. I won and lost, I discussed with the referees, quarreled with our opponents.
"I have exulted, screamed, cried. Playing Cagliari is both a pleasure and an honor, a responsibility: something that makes victories sweeter and doubles the weight of the heart when it is lost. Beyond those personal satisfactions, I put the team in the first place. It was the only thing that mattered: Cagliari. And the shirt: I tried to honor it with all my strength, I think I succeeded.
"Now I'm starting a new chapter in my career, I'm ready to fight and give everything for my new colours and my new fans."