Symbol of Italian football in the late 80s and 90s, former striker Gianluca Vialli died aged 58 from pancreatic cancer. The announcement was made this Friday by Sampdoria (ITA), one of his former clubs.
Vialli, who also played for Juventus (ITA) and Chelsea (ING), was diagnosed in 2017. At Euro 2021, he served as an assistant to his former Sampdoria teammate Roberto Mancini, leading the Italian team to the title at Wembley.
“We will remember you as a boy and a relentless striker,” Sampdoria wrote on their website.
Transfer to Juventus
With Sampdoria, Vialli won the Recopa in 1990, the Italian championship in 1991 and reached the European Cup final in 1992, lost to Barcelona.
Then he was transferred to Juventus (1992-1996) for the equivalent of 16.5 million euros (about R$ 92 million, at current prices) – a very high amount for the time. He then won the Champions League in 1996 before signing for Chelsea (1996-1999), where he was player-manager in 1998.
His record also includes a UEFA Cup in 1993 and a Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998. He retired a year later.
Vialli defended the national team on 59 occasions, with 16 goals. He didn’t win any titles, which he did as an assistant to Mancini, his great friend from Sampdoria. The emotional and lengthy embrace of both after the penalty kick won against England –which earned the Euro Cup title– was one of the scenes of the final.
At the time, Vialli was already facing cancer. “He is an undesirable traveling companion, but I have to move forward, travel with my head down and not give up, hope he gets tired and lets me live a long time”, said the former striker about his illness in a documentary broadcast by broadcaster Rai, in 2021.
The announcement of the death of “Lucagol” or “The Lion King”, as he was known, caused a wave of emotion in Italian football.
Disappointment and glory at Wembley
“Goodbye Gianluca, we will always remember you,” posted the Italian team on their Twitter account.
“Let’s not forget your 141 goals, your shots, your cashmere shirts, your earring, your platinum blonde hair, your Ultras jacket. You’ve given us so much,” added Sampdoria.
The best moment as a Vialli player was spent with Mancini. Born in 1964, they were dubbed “the goal twins”, taking Sampdoria to the top in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The team was champion of Serie A in 1991 with Mancini in the building and Vialli in the definition – he was the top scorer with 19 goals.
His underwear image remains in memory. “I improved [na hora de me vestir] when I went to Turin and London,” he said, laughing, in a Rai broadcast in November 2022.
Winner of three Italian Cups in this golden age, the Genoese club was one goal away from the maximum title. In 1992, a direct free-kick taken by Ronald Koeman gave Barcelona victory in the European Cup final at Wembley.
Almost 30 years later, Vialli and Mancini took revenge by lifting the Euro Cup on the same stage.
“There was love, friendship, fear too… Those tears were full of many things”, said Vialli about the embrace that he shared with his “twin”.
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