By now he had been an Italian Londoner for a quarter of a century, ea Londonat the Royal Marsden Hospital where he had been hospitalized for three weeks, is gone Gianluca Vialli, at just 58 years old. He was born in Cremona on July 9, 1964. He leaves behind his wife Cathryn and two daughters, Sofia and Olivia. He surrendered to a pancreatic cancer, one of the most treacherous, diagnosed in 2017 and faced with a mixture of irony, courage and melancholy for a life that will remain unforgettable. The funeral will take place in London in private form, in date and place that will be kept secret. He had been a striker for Cremonese, Samp, Juve and Chelsea, as well as for the national team, then a coach.
His death follows that of Sinisa Mihajlovic by 21 days, he from leukemia, another of the heroes of Italian football of the 80s and 90s, those of the great Serie A. Everyone is crying, many on TV as they issue a statement, the comrades of Vialli in his career; Graeme Souness, who had played with him in Sampdoria, burst into tears in England. In fact, condolences are also very heartfelt in the United Kingdom: the BBC and other British broadcasters covered the news with long live broadcasts. The journalists who closely followed his exploits also cry, because he was a remarkable man, intelligent, sharp, never banal, one of those who leave a trace and it is worth knowing: the heart bleeds, pieces of us leave and our lives, and so soon.
Vialli, the funeral in London in private form (with a secret date). In Cremona the idea of naming the stadium after him
THE EXAMPLE
He was a champion, a sensitive man and a charismatic leader, a graceful and smiling symbol of Vicini’s under-21 team, the senior national team and the great Sampdoria, and an example for the generations to follow, and in fact a “living example for the national team” Vialli was considered by the Azzurri in the European Championship won just 18 months ago, when Luca, as a companion but also factotum, adviser to coach Mancini and confidant of the players, had been an indisputable added value, and who knows what turmoil in his heart. It hurts now to think of the embrace between Vialli and Mancio at Wembley after the final was just won, two happy friends, two hearts and a soul from thirty years earlier. A hug that was worth a lifetime. And poor Roberto Mancini, too: in a few days he lost two close friends, Sinisa and Luca. Fate strikes humans with an end-of-the-world crash.
THE ILLNESS
On 14 December Vialli announced that he had to leave the national team to undergo a cycle of further treatments, after those started five years ago. But then he entered the clinic, and there was nothing more to be done against the evil that he faced for 5 years, and which came back with ever greater aggressiveness, despite operations and long chemotherapy cycles. Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve he had received visits from many friends, from Roberto Mancini to Ciro Ferrara and Massimo Mauro, and family members, including his 88-year-old mother Maria Teresa, and his four brothers; mourning also affects his father Gianfranco, who is 92 years old. Luca was the fifth child, “the unplanned one”, of a very wealthy family from Cremona. They all lived in the country villa, or rather a castle, in Grumello. He was a champion on the pitch, acrobatic, fast and flexible in the first part of his career, which culminated with the Scudetto at Sampdoria in 1991, one of just three, in the last 31 years, to have left the Milan-Turin axis (the others li Lazio and Rome won). Then at Juve, in the second part of his career, he became increasingly powerful and modern, and was Champions League, as captain, in Rome in 1996. He is always a thinking head, intelligent, someone who asked and asked questions of the coaches, analytical and petulant also, and one of the first footballers to “pierce” the TV.
He loved the dialectic, famous his clash with Arrigo Sacchi blue coach, and his renunciation of the 1994 World Cup. Then he went to London, and put down roots there, and in the meantime he became an appreciated television commentator on Sky. He was the only former footballer to be a torchbearer for the Turin 2006 Olympic torch. In recent years he had moved away from football, he was an entrepreneur, he returned only for the call of Roberto Mancini to the national team, but then he returned to his occupations: among the regrets, that of never being able to buy his beloved Sampdoria, despite the attempts. Eventually his illness had come back in a devastating way, and the last year had been an ordeal. Serie A will remember him with a minute’s silence before the matches, tributes arrived yesterday from all over the world, from Fifa to the Premier League, Allegri and Mourinho observed a minute’s silence before training, and many others like them. Cremona will dedicate its stadium, the “Zini”, to Vialli. And that’s just the beginning: Luca has left his mark and will be remembered forever, because heroes are young and strong forever, in the hearts of those who loved them.
