Cagliari: Claudio Ranieri seals emotional Serie A promotion

Cagliari won promotion to Serie A via the play-offs

Former Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri couldn't hold back the tears after winning promotion to Italy's Serie A for Cagliari in dramatic circumstances.

Leonardo Pavoletti poked home in the 94th minute to secure a 2-1 aggregate victory over Bari at Stadio San Nicola on Sunday.

Ranieri, 71, returned for his second stint at Cagliari in January.

"Cagliari means everything to me," Ranieri told DAZN.

The Italian, who led Leicester to a historic Premier League title in 2015-16, oversaw successive promotions with Cagliari during his first spell in charge, from 1998 to 1991, taking them from Serie C to Serie A.

He was appointed as Fabio Liverani's successor from 1 January, when the club sat ninth, and they went on to lose just two of 19 Serie B games to end the campaign in fifth.

Cagliari beat Venezia and Parma before seeing off Bari to return to Serie A at the first attempt.

Ranieri said: "My feeling for this shirt is authentic. I remember when I won the Premier League [with Leicester], I immediately thought about the Rossoblu colours.

"I will always be grateful to those who brought me back to Sardinia. And I want to think about our fans, our people, not only those who come to the stadium - and we have a small stadium - but to all those who have supported us until the end in recent weeks.

"Having given joy to such a passionate group of supporters makes me so proud."