Celebrating the life and career of Gianluca Vialli

The footballing world was shaken to its core on January 6^Th 2023 after the devastating loss of Italian striker Gianluca Vialli.

Vialli lost his battle with pancreatic cancer after being diagnosed with the disease for the second time after beating it in 2017.

Many former teammates and friends expressed their sadness about his premature passing.

Speaking to Sky Sports, former teammate and friend Graeme Souness said, "Forget football for a minute, he was just a gorgeous soul. He was a truly nice human being."

Let's reflect on an incredible footballing career that led to him becoming one of the greatest Italian forwards of all time.

The Italian striker started his career in 1980 with Serie C1 side Cremonese.

Picture - Instagram @uscremonese

In his first season with the Serie C1 side, they were promoted to Serie B, where he scored ten goals in the second division as a winger in his final year for the team.

Picture - Instagram @uscremonese

After initial success in Italy's lower leagues, Vialli got his big move to Serie A giants Sampdoria where he formed a prolific relationship with fellow striker Roberto Mancini.

With Gianluca Vialli's arrival, Sampdoria had its most successful period in history. They won the first Serie A title with Vialli finishing top scorer with 19 goals, three Italian cups where he set the record for most goals in a cup campaign with 13, and a UEFA Cup Winners Cup.

In 1992, Vialli joined Juventus for a then-world-record fee of around $15.5 million and joined a star-studded cast of players such as Roberto Baggio and Paulo Di Canio.

Under new coach Marcello Lippi, Vialli would transform his training routine by losing weight and becoming faster and stronger.

A physically transformed Gianluca Vialli helped Juventus with the league and cup double in 1995, scoring 16 during the season. However, he capped off his Juve career by winning the Champions League in 1996 against Ajax.

Vialli joined Premier League side Chelsea in the summer of 1996 under the guidance of Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit.

His Chelsea career was left stagnant after a feud with the Blues manager meant he only made brief substitute appearances.

In early 1998, Gullit was sacked by Chelsea, so Vialli stepped in to take the reigns as player-manager. He finished the 1998 season strong, winning the League Cup, the Cup Winners Cup, and the Super Cup against Real Madrid – becoming the youngest manager to win a UEFA competition.

The Italian forward played the final game of his career against Derby County in 1999 in which he scored in and finished his playing career at the London club with 40 goals in 83 games.

As a full-time manager, Vialli took Chelsea to the quarter-final of the Champions League in their debut campaign, he won the 2000 FA Cup, and the 2000 Charity Shield before being sacked at the start of the 2000/01 campaign for poor results and losing the dressing room.

Gianluca Vialli received 59 appearances and scored 16 goals for Italy in an international career that saw him feature at the 1988 European Championships and the 1990 World Cup.

The striker made his last appearance for 'Azzurri' in December 1992 due to a strained relationship with the Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi.

Former strike partner and friend of the best part of three decades Roberto Mancini asked Vialli to become the post of chief delegate for the Italian side in 2019.

With the appointment coming at the time he was battling cancer, according to irishtimes.com, Vialli said – "Working with Roberto and the staff is emotional."

His life in football ended in the most fitting way, after being a key member of the staff that brought home Euro 2020 for the Italians against England at Wembley Stadium.