Start Believing: Inzaghi's bathroom breaks & Cagliari's seating conundrum

 

The secret to Super Pippo's success in front of goal and why No.17 is banned in Sardinia feature in the last of our series chronicling the extraordinary power of belief

Inzaghi's lucky bathroom break

Andrea Pirlo’s recent autobiography contained some cracking anecdotes. One eye-opener involved Pippo Inzaghi and a particular lucky pre-match ritual. The veteran midfielder, now at Juventus, wrote of his team-mate: “He would go to the toilet three or four times in 10 minutes.” Inzaghi would tell his protesting team-mates that the ritual always brought him luck. “Not to us it doesn’t,” replied Pirlo. “What have you eaten, a dead body?”

Cagliari’s disgrace of a seat number


"15, 16, 16B, 18..." | Cellino inspects the stands at Is Arenas
Massimo Cellino, president of Sardinia’s only club in the Italian Serie A, Cagliari, is notoriously fearful of the bad luck brought by the number 17, known as ‘the disgrace’ in many Latin countries (he also despises the colour purple). So if you visit Cagliari’s new Is Arenas stadium and sit yourself between seats numbered 16 and 18, you won’t find your sat in seat 17 – only ‘16B’.