“This is sport. I believe sport should be in these tiny gestures.”
Claudio Ranieri brought an English ‘guard of honour‘ tradition to Serie A on Saturday, having experienced it while manager of Leicester City in 2016 when the Foxes won the Premier League.
Ranieri is currently managing Serie A side Sampdoria and his side took on Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan on Saturday, who have already been confirmed this year’s champions.
Ranieri on guard of honour.
Ranieri’s side gave a guard of honour to the champions before the game, a tradition often seen in England but not in other countries.
Inter’s side includes former Premier League players Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku, who both looked thrilled at Sampdoria’s applause.
The Italian revealed after the game that he instructed his side to perform the gesture.
“I told Quagliarella and the lads it would be good to mark the occasion the way they do in England, and they immediately agreed with me,” Ranieri told Sky Sport Italia after the game.
GUARD OF HONOUR. Stile Sampdoria ⚫️???1⃣9⃣ ?? pic.twitter.com/d7IymBcuxa
— Daniele Mari (@marifcinter) May 8, 2021
“This is sport. I believe sport should be in these tiny gestures, especially for a team that won with four rounds to spare.
“We had it at Leicester, receiving the guard of honour at Chelsea in the next game.”
Ranieri on Sampdoria’s 5-1 loss against Inter Milan.
Unfortunately for Ranieri, the game went to form as Sampdoria lost 5-1. But the Italian manager was his usual forthright self after the game, admitting that his side were beaten by the better team.
“It’s a pity, as we conceded straight away and then just as we got back into it, we then conceded another straight away,” Ranieri added.
“Inter were playing on the wings of enthusiasm and we were not our usual selves. All credit to Inter, and a bit of it was our fault.
“We wanted to do well, because we knew that Inter wanted to celebrate and we didn’t want to be the victims.
“We know often Inter can sit back and hit you on the counter, but this time they played with far more freedom and enjoyment than usual. We just watched.”
A guard of honour for Leicester and Claudio Ranieri. ? https://t.co/hxOgd7vtwN
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 15, 2016
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