Gianluca Vialli has died at the age of 58, five years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A footballer, coach, sports commentator and sports executive, Vialli was one of the soccer icons of the 1980s and 1990s in Italy. He made history with Sampdoria, paired with Roberto Mancini-the two were nicknamed the "goal twins"-who many years later he found again in the national team: Mancini as coach and he as head of delegation. 

Thick curls and a lean physique, the Cremona teenager who until a few years earlier had begun kicking a ball around in 1978 at age 16 was bought by Cremonese, reached the first team, and in three seasons scored 23 goals in 103 games. In 1984 Sampdoria ds Borea convinced president Mantovani to bring him to Genoa, where coach Bersellini's insight into his potential as a pure striker opened new horizons for his career.

Ambidextrous, fast, physically strong, and endowed with good technique, in his early twenties the talent from Cremona made his Serie A debut and began playing in attack alongside Mancini. At the end of the first season, the Genoa team won the first Coppa Italia in its history with a goal by Vialli in the return final. It was a success that led Gianni Brera to coin for the Cremonese athlete the nickname Stradivialli: according to the journalist, his football art had to do with the harmony of the violins made by his famous fellow citizen Antonio Stradivari.

Wooed by Italian soccer greats such as Milan and Juve, Vialli rejected the advances of Silvio Berlusconi and lawyer Agnelli: "In the big teams, you are above all a number depending on results. And I, at this moment, am interested in being above all a person," he says. A decision that turned out to be the right one: Vialli stayed at Genoa, and with Vujadin Boskov on the bench, he became one of the most prolific and complete center forwards in Serie A. In eight championships with the Blucerchiata jersey he played 213 games and scored 85 goals, won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1990, the historic Scudetto in 1991, Sampdoria's first and only one, three Italian Cups and an Italian Super Cup.

In 1986 it was Enzo Bearzot, coach of World Champion Italy '82, who called him for his debut for the national team, at the World Cup in Mexico. But the apex of his career in the Azzurri jersey would come with Azeglio Vicini, who had already launched him in the Under-21 team, a finalist in the 1986 European Championship category against Spain: under the guidance of the Romagna coach, Vialli grabbed the semifinal against the USSR at Euro '88, then third place at the World Cup in Italia 90. With him was his lifelong friend Mancini, a sporting partnership that was broken, however, in 1992, when Vialli yielded to the advances of Juventus, and went to Giovanni Trapattoni's court alongside champions such as Roberto Baggio. The two friends would only reunite professionally in 2018, when Vialli took over as head of the national team delegation.

In 1996, at the height of his success, Vialli changed his path: he said goodbye to Italy and moved to London, Chelsea side. In England, after two seasons, he will make a surprise switch from the field to the bench, in the unprecedented dual role of coach-player from February 1998 to the following season. At the helm of the Blues he remained until 2000, winning five trophies in four years.

After his career as a player and coach, Vialli became a key resource for the Federation for years, providing all his experience and defying the illness diagnosed in 2017. Appointed in 2019 by the FIGC, along with Francesco Totti, Italian ambassador for the 2020 European Championship, a few months later he returns to the national team, this time in a different capacity. His is the post of head of delegation for the Azzurri coached by former teammate Roberto Mancini: officially manager, unofficially adviser and constant support for his fraternal friend. In the summer of 2021, he took part in the European championship won by Italy, an achievement that the players and the coach said they had achieved also thanks to Vialli, a fundamental figure in the locker room and an example of life for everyone.

The battle against pancreatic cancer for Gianluca Vialli has lasted five long years. Since his diagnosis in 2017, he has never hesitated to share with fans his daily struggle with the disease, often confiding even his deepest fears. "I don't know when the light goes out what will be on the other side. Of course I'm afraid of dying. However, I also realize that the concept of death serves to understand and appreciate life," he said in a TV interview. "I have been a player and a strong man but also a fragile one, and I think some people may have recognized that. I am here with my flaws, fears and the desire to do something important," he recounted last year when, defying illness, he had accompanied Mancini's national team to the European Championships as head of delegation. A challenge that Vialli has always been aware he might not win: "I am not doing a battle with cancer because I don't think I would be able to win it, it is an opponent much stronger than me. It got on the train with me and I have to keep going, traveling with my head down, never giving up," he had said, "hoping that one day this unwelcome guest will get tired and let me live peacefully for many more years because there are still many things I want to do."

In mid-December, to the surprise of many, the announcement of his absence from the Azzurri's next competitions. The champion had decided to temporarily leave his post as head of the national team's delegation, not accompanying Mancini and his team to the two qualifying matches for the 2024 European Championship scheduled for March 2023. "At the end of a long and difficult negotiation with my wonderful team of oncologists, I have decided to suspend, I hope temporarily, my present and future professional commitments." Between the lines the reference to particularly critical conditions: "The goal is to use all psycho-physical energies to help my body overcome this phase of the disease."