Claudio Ranieri burst into tears after taking Cagliari to a last-gasp promotion into Serie A, having returned to the club after more than 30 years with them languishing in mid-table.
The 71-year-old was completely overwhelmed with emotion at the final whistle of the 1-0 result away to Bari when the Sardinians secured promotion to Serie A after just one year in the second division.
It was a dramatic promotion play-off, as the first leg had Cagliari leading until a last-gasp penalty from Mirco Antenucci.
So with Bari finishing higher up the table, they would be promoted if the tie was level on aggregate, and that was the situation until the 94th minute when substitute Leonardo Pavoletti volleyed in at the back post from Gabriele Zappa’s cross.
Ranieri really started his coaching career at Cagliari in 1988, taking them to promotion from Serie C to B and then to the top flight, leaving for Napoli in 1991.
He went on to sit on the benches of Fiorentina, Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Parma, Juventus, Roma, Inter, AS Monaco, the Greece national team, winning the Premier League at Leicester City, FC Nantes, Fulham, Sampdoria and Watford.
When Ranieri took the Cagliari job on January 1, they were 14th in the Serie B table, but he dragged them up to fifth and through the play-offs to eliminate Venezia, Parma and Bari and book their place in Serie A.