Vialli, Del Piero: “An inspiration, up to the last captain on and off the pitch”

“A reassuring voice and a decisive voice. An inspiring character: he inspired confidence, charisma, determination, the desire to stick his chest out and face any kind of challenge, even those that might seem unattainable and unsurpassable”. It is the memory of Luca Vialli who at the end of the day on video on Sky dedicates Alessandro Del Piero to him, his teammate from 1993 to 1996 in the Italian and European champion Juventus. “Together with Roberto Baggio he was the greatest example I had as an 18-year-old at Juventus. The two of them, who had won the UEFA Cup and for what they represented for Italy, were enormous. Luca also became my captain, I’ve always called him that, even lately. He always has been, on and off the pitch. When we had the first double sessions, he invited me to eat with everyone.”

Exemplary

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Del Piero, who met him when he was just over 18, speaks of Vialli as a decisive example: “He’s the one that struck me the most, for me as I watched him score and win with my favorite team and at 18 I found myself to play together. Together with my teammates, he was an incredible example in that time spent together, the Scudetto returned after nine years and above all the Champions League.”

In the locker room

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The speech happens on that trident in which Del Piero ended up undermining Baggio with Vialli always decisive as a true and proper captain: “I’ve never been a rival for Roberto, I was still too young. Then after the Scudetto he and Juve broke up I inherited it but at the age of 18-19 I was not up to being a rival – recalls Del Piero -. Luca perceived this, he was a boy very sensitive to moods and looks. And how he passed on security, other times he conveyed his fears in the locker room just to share them: one of the best things he did in his career was to bring people together, make them united in the face of fears, joys, emotions and even defeats”.

The symbolic match

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That group remembers one match in particular as a founding act of that winning season: “The comeback against Fiorentina, symbol of that Juve. They are first, we are 2-0 down after dominating, there are 10 minutes left, they are incredible. a very strong team, but it has given us the awareness of being able to win them all, coming back from behind is something that rarely happens, if you do it, it’s because you believe in it – recalls Del Piero -. I scored my best goal there, but there are two from Gianluca and two images that impressed me: after 2-2 we try to knock him down Gianluca to cheer and he with three of us on him took us to midfield to tell us we’re going to win, and then I find him slipping with me after the my goal, a moment that left us with something very strong. Always pressing the accelerator, this was his mentality: the comeback started from him, from his desire, from his goals, from his charisma. It means a lot for a young man like me aged 19”.

The joy of rigor

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It was also an opportunity to recall that fifth penalty against Ajax in the Champions League final won in 1996, then not taken because it wasn’t needed, which had been awarded to Del Piero. Vialli had already recounted having said to Lippi: “Marcello, if you have five crazy players who go to the spot I’m happy to watch them, but I’ll shoot them if needed”. Del Piero comments: “Gianluca has always been an honest person on and off the pitch. He knew his limits, penalties weren’t his strength, maybe he didn’t even like them. On the other hand, in that final, especially on penalties, he he thought a lot about that other player who had already played for Sampdoria and who had escaped him”.

Sacrifice

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Del Piero and Vialli were two pillars of that trident of wonders in black and white: “The Champions League was the fruit of the mentality built up over the course of the previous year, when the coach also decided with Luca and the others to say ‘Let’s play it all and go to the attack’. It demanded a lot of sacrifice especially from us three forwards and on this Luca was always the first, he never backed down. He was the first to kick his ass, run, hit, hit: with someone like that next to him it’s easy to go after him.”