Gianluca Vialli has died in a London hospital after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The football world is in mourning. In the last few hours, the death of Gianluca Vialli , former Italian striker and coach, at the age of 58, was confirmed. The mythical artilleryman died in a London hospital, where he was hospitalized due to pancreatic cancer that he had suffered from since 2017 and had brought complications a few days ago.

Before being admitted to England, Gianluca was working for the Italian Football Federation and was Head of Delegation for the Italian football team, a position he had to leave last December 14, warning that he was going to be absent from the next commitments of the Azzurra in March 2023.

As a footballer, Vialli played for Cremonese, Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea . In fact, he was part of the best Sampdoria in history together with Roberto Mancini, winning six titles during his stay. In addition, he was part of the Italian national team on several occasions, playing a total of 59 games and scoring 16 goals.

At Calcio he won everything: Serie A, the Italian Cup and the Italian Super Cup. In addition, he won an FA Cup, a European Cup Winners' Cup, a Champions League and a UEFA Cup. He also excelled at the Blues as a player-coach, lifting five titles in just three seasons: League Cup, another European Cup Winners' Cup and a European Super Cup. Later, already retired, as a footballer, he lifted another FA Cup and a Charity Shield.

Gianluca Vialli, one of the greatest strikers in Italian football.

Vialli was one of the greatest strikers in Italian football: between the 80s and 90s he made the history of this sport so much so that in 2015 he was inducted into the Hall of fame. Born in Cremona, he played for four years in the red and gray shirt for professionals, winning promotion to Serie A in his last championship. He then moved to Sampdoria where he would wear the Blucerchiata shirt until 1992  career is when Vujadin Boskov arrives on the bench of the Ligurian club and deploys him as first striker.

Vialli, together with Roberto Mancini, forms one of the most iconic couples in Italian football ("the goal twins") and with the Sampdoria shirt, the two champions win the Scudetto in the 1990-1991 season. Vialli that year also became the top scorer in Serie A with 19 goals.

The following year, Sampdoria also managed to reach the final of the Champions Cup but Barcelona won the Wembley final. The historic match played in London will be Vialli's last match with the Sampdoria shirt: 223 games and 85 goals. Then the transfer to Juventus: Vialli arrives in black and white for the record sum of 40 billion lire and forms a stellar trident with Roberto Baggio and Fabrizio Ravanelli.

The following year Alessandro Del Piero will also arrive at Juve, thus increasing the technical depth of an already very strong team. However, the first season, despite the triumph in the UEFA Cup, was not full of satisfactions (also due to some injuries) while the following one Vialli established himself completely also thanks to the technical guidance of Marcello Lippi. Just in the 1994-1995 season Vialli will win his second championship and the fourth Italian Cup.

However, the unforgettable season was the following, the last in black and white, when together with Del Piero and Ravanelli he dragged Juve to triumph in the Champions League. The grand final in Rome against Ajax is legendary with Juve beating the Dutch on penalties. It will be his last match with the Juve shirt with which he played 145 games and scored 53 goals.

The adventure at Chelsea.

In the last part of his career Vialli will play in England wearing the Chelsea shirt together with Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Di Matteo. In his first year with the Blues he won the FA Cup and in the following year, in the dual role of player and manager, he led the English club to triumph in the League Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup (beating Guidolin and Luiso's Vicenza in the semifinals and Stuttgart in the final by Löw).

The following year, Chelsea will beat Real Madrid in the European Super Cup final and in the Premier League they will lose only 3 games, finishing in third place with 75 points behind Manchester United (79) and Arsenal (75). At the end of the season Vialli will decide to retire from playing football. He would continue to coach Chelsea until September 2000 before being replaced by Claudio Ranieri.

The national team: from the debut in 1985 to the Magical Nights of '90.

Vialli also had an excellent performance with the Italian national team: he collected 59 appearances and scored 16 goals. His debut dates back to November 16, 1985, at the age of just 21, in the match lost against Poland 1-0. Bearzot also called him up for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, making 4 appearances on the scoresheet. Vialli will then become one of the symbols of Italy in the subsequent management, that of Azeglio Vicini: on 24 January 1987 he will score his first goal in blue against Malta.

He also participates in the 1988 European Championships and is included in the team of the tournament. On 26 April 1989 he will play his first match with the captain's armband against Hungary. In 1990, in the home World Cup, he will lead, together with Roberto Mancini and Roberto Baggio, Italy up to the semi-final then lost in Naples against Maradona's Argentina. The last presence and goals for the national team date back to 19 December 1992 in the match against Malta valid for the 1994 World Cup qualifiers in the USA.

Source.