Mauro: “Vialli was an incredible man, luckily I was able to say goodbye”

For years now, Gianluca Vialli and Massimo Mauro had created a Foundation that bore their name, aimed at supporting the prevention and treatment of tumors, as well as funding excellent research on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. An important work that has grown over the years, which has kept the bond between them very close. And Mauro himself told Tg1 about his last meeting with Gianluca in the London clinic where he was hospitalized: “I saw him ten days ago in London and he was in very critical condition. It was difficult to communicate with him. Every two hours, for about ten minutes, he managed to be lucid: we talked about Sampdoria, Juve and our Foundation ”. It was his friend who had been hospitalized for a few days in the London facility who let him know that he would appreciate a visit from him: “Luckily I was able to see him in London. He was an incredible man and had real leadership. In recent years he has had an extraordinary experience in the national team, which has given him so much enthusiasm, and I thank the FIGC for this. He leaves behind two wonderful girls and a wife. His only big regret is not having been able to take care of Sampdoria. He would have loved to be president of the Sampdoria club and help `his´ Sampdoria”, added Mauro. But, then, the refusal of the former president Ferrero, who had said no to the sale of the club to Vialli and the two foreign tycoons interested in Sampdoria, made Gianluca’s desire to wane.

THE LAST GREETING

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Another touching memory comes from one of the exes of the tricolor Sampd’oro, Giuseppe Dossena, who yesterday evening was in Genoa in Piazza De Ferrari while behind him the images of Gianluca scrolled on the facade of the Palazzo della Regione. On the last Sunday of November they had met in Genoa for the first town of the docufilm on Sampdoria of the Scudetto. “He had tired eyes, Luca. He kept looking at us from afar and smiled at us ”, he told Corriere. Even if it was clear that the situation was critical: “No one mentioned the disease, but I had the clear feeling that he had wanted to defy physical pain to be with us for the last time in that Samp that he had loved so intensely”. That’s right.