Vialli was Mancini’s eternal companion and loved throughout Italy

With the death of the Italian Gianluca Vialli, the football world loses not only a graceful attacker and a modest trainer, but also an amiable person. The smile was never far away under his curly head of hair, which was gradually thinning out. As a starting trainer, he was already standing on the side of the field with a shiny skull. Vialli passed away this Friday at the age of 58 from pancreatic cancer.

What was the highlight of his playing career for Ronald Koeman in 1992 – the Dutchman of FC Barcelona was match winner at Wembley in the European Cup 1 final against Sampdoria – meant a sporting low point for ‘Luca’ Vialli. Together with his buddy Roberto Mancini, he was a plague for the Catalan defense that night. But the ball wouldn’t go in. The only goal fell, just before time, on the other side.

“We lost unluckily, because we were the best team and had the most chances,” the footballer stated in NRC a few later. “I still haven’t forgotten that match. I will always remember it. We lost and a week later I left for Juventus. I wanted to give the supporters of Sampdoria a parting gift with the European title.”

Vialli would take ‘indirect’ revenge in 1996 by winning the European Cup 1 final (now renamed Champions League) with Juventus at the expense of Ajax. Another Dutchman, player/coach Ruud Gullit, crossed his path at Chelsea in the mid-1990s. They were initially good buddies in London, but got into a fight. When Gullit was fired, Vialli succeeded him. A stab in the back of Gullit, this was called in Dutch football circles. Chelsea then won five trophies with player/coach Vialli, including the European Cup 2 in 1998.

Cremona in Lombardy

Vialli had started his career in 1980 with the modest Cremonese in his hometown of Cremona in Lombardy. He moved southwest to Sampdoria after four years. At the provincial club from Genoa, the fast, agile, goal-oriented Vialli experienced his international breakthrough. With Mancini at his side, he slalomed, soloed and scored. With ‘Samp’ he won the only national title in club history in 1992 and the UEFA Cup in 1993.

With the Italian national team, they also formed a blindly attuned attack duo for years. Vialli scored sixteen times in 59 international matches for the squadra azzurra. As a footballer he was Mancini’s superior, as a trainer the roles were reversed. The vain, perfectly dressed and coiffed Mancini led the Italian national team to the European title in 2021 as national coach. The bald slob Vialli sat next to him in a crumpled suit on the couch as assistant national coach.

Read also: Italy, with Vialli on the couch, won the European Championship of (corona) worries in 2021

Vialli’s appearance was already an afterthought. In April 2020, he was declared (temporarily) cured of pancreatic cancer, which had been diagnosed two years earlier. The disease returned in late 2021. In December 2022, he retired from public life. “I want to use all my physical and mental strength to help my body get through this phase of the disease,” he stated.

His health has deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks. He passed away this Friday in a London hospital. Sampdoria paid extensive attention to the greatest footballer in club history on Friday morning. “You have given us so much. It was unconditional love. A love that lasts even after your death. We will always love and adore you because, as you yourself know, you are better than [de mens] Pele.”