From beating cancer to European Championship success with bosom friend

Tuesday, July 6, 2021 at 00:00• Rian Rosendaal

Under the leadership of Roberto Mancini, the impressive Italy is making a serious shot at the European title. After every goal and victory, the Italian national coach celebrates extensively with team manager and bosom friend Gianluca Vialli. The former attackers won the Scudetto with Sampdoria in 1991 and the mutual bond is still very close 30 years later, especially because Vialli has had quite difficult times due to cancer. Winning the European Championship would be the ultimate culmination of the close friendship between the two.

Mancini and Vialli, both 56 years old, have known each other for over 40 years. The top strikers of yesteryear met for the first time in the early eighties at Coverciano, the training complex of the Italian Football Association in Florence. It was soon noticed there that there was chemistry between the upcoming talents from Jesi and Cremona respectively. Soon the youth players ate regularly at the restaurant Carmine’s in the Italian province of Lombardy, while at the weekend the popular nightclub Carillon in Portofino was visited by the very young Mancini and Vialli. Since that very first meeting, the latter has enormous admiration for the current elector of La Squadra Azzurra.

Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli go from highlight to highlight at the European Championship.

Adoration for Mancini
“Roberto has been my big idol since I was fourteen,” Vialli said in an interview with the RAI. “On Coverciano was our first acquaintance and even then people talked a lot about him as a player. How long have we known each other, about forty years? I enabled him to score goals and vice versa.” Vialli was a late bloomer who dreamed of a career with the humble Cremonese from his hometown of Cremona. Mancini had already appeared on the radar of the great AC Milan by then, although the attacker eventually chose Bologna as the first step towards playing professional football. He quickly made a name for himself as a real finisher and in 1982 Sampdoria took the gamble with him. Vialli became the hero of Cremonese, which won promotion to Serie A for the first time in fifty years.

Meanwhile, Mancini and Vialli formed a strong duo in Italy’s Under-21 squad. The former striker continued to urge his good friend to trade Cremonese for the much larger Sampdoria, which had the likes of Trevor Francis and Liam Brady under contract. In 1984 the time had finally come: Vialli completed the move to Genoa. The duo soon had a big part in conquering the Coppa Italia in 1985. In the final battle against AC Milan, the normally rock-solid Franco Baresi failed to stop the top talents of Sampdoria. The Italian media praised the collaboration between Mancini and Vialli, nicknamed Goal Twins got. Then club president Paolo Mantovani was so impressed by the pair that he named his dogs Roby and Luca.

Sampdoria won the Coppa Italia twice with the two top strikers, in 1988 and 1989. In 1990 the European Cup III was won and a year later even the Italian national title. The championship earned the club a place in the European Cup I. Promptly reached the final in 1992, against Barcelona at Wembley. The European dream of Mancini and Vialli was shattered in the 112th minute by Ronald Koeman. It was the last time that both strikers together formed the vanguard of Sampdoria. Juventus managed to lure Vialli away from the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. He later played for Chelsea for a few years, where the Italian also briefly acted as manager. Mancini also arrived in the Premier League in the fall of his career, after wearing the Lazio shirt for several years. However, his stay at Leicester City was limited to just four appearances.

Mancini later had the necessary successes as a coach at Internazionale and Manchester City. The Italian Football Association considered him mature enough as a trainer in 2018 to take on the role of national coach. Vialli was linked to Watford after his dismissal from Chelsea. Despite the necessary investments, the Hornets in the 2001/02 season in a disappointing fourteenth place, after which a premature dismissal followed for the former attacker. Since then, his coaching career has been on the back burner. Vialli wrote a book in 2006 with the Italian journalist Gabriele Marcott about the differences between football in the Premier League and Serie A. He also founded the company Tifosy, a platform that gives people the opportunity to invest in sports. The 59-time international of Italy was also regularly heard over the years as a commentator on matches broadcast by Sky Italy. In 2019 Mancini brought him to the national team as head of delegation. This position had not been filled since the departure of Italian legend Luigi Riva in 2013.

A tough battle off the field
For Vialli, the renewed collaboration with Mancini was a welcome boost. Pancreatic cancer was discovered in Mancini’s right hand in 2017, which he only brought out a year later. In the television program Sogno Azzurro of the RAI he managed to aptly articulate dealing with cancer / “Fighting against cancer is pointless, because this opponent is much stronger than I am. Cancer is an unwanted companion, but unfortunately there is not much I can do about it. The disease is on board with me I’ve been off the train and I’ll have to endure the journey in the hopes that this uninvited guest will tire and eventually leave peacefully. Hopefully he’ll be gone for years too, because I still have so much to do in my life.” Despite Vialli’s optimism, it was a tough fight. He had to undergo chemotherapy and lost a whopping fifteen kilos in weight. The Italian wore extra thick clothes and oversized coats to mask the weight loss, while his daughters drew eyebrows above his eyes and dabbled in make-up.

Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli experienced some successes at Sampdoria.

Vialli, meanwhile, drew hope and strength from reading Asian philosophy and made a book with inspiring quotes to make the fight against cancer a little more bearable. Working closely with Mancini also helps Vialli to put his life back in order after a few tough and anxious years. “Working with Roberto and the other staff members brings with it the necessary emotions,” the former player of Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea reported in the Italian media. “Roberto says we’re getting old, but this work here keeps me young at heart.” In his role in the background, Vialli looks with admiration and pride at the good work Mancini is doing as national coach. “He’s a great trainer, I really didn’t expect that when we were still active as players!” he said in the Italian television program Notte Azzura. “The atmosphere in the squad is great and the players are brimming with confidence. If a player feels the coach’s confidence, he can walk on water. But that’s not all, because Roberto has the ability to see discipline. to keep.”

In April 2020, Vialli received the redeeming message that he was completely cured of cancer. The news came a month after UEFA decided to postpone EURO 2020 by a year due to the corona crisis. A year later than planned, he and Mancini are working on his ultimate mission: to give Italy a major prize for the first time since they won the 2006 World Cup. Vialli and Mancini do this together with staff members Attilio Lombardo, Alberico Evani and Fausto Salsano, teammates from Sampdoria’s successful years. Vialli cherishes the good mutual bond that exists between the former players. “It helps if you are friendly off the pitch too. You work the same way and look at things the same way. And certainly with Roberto it just came naturally, we quickly became good friends.” The Sampdoria heroes can make themselves immortal in their own country by taking the European title at Wembley on July 11, almost thirty years after the dramatic night against Barcelona in the final battle of the European Cup I.

Football zone keeps you informed about everything about EURO 2020

Curious about the current position, the competition program and much more European Championship news? Click here!