FOOTBALL: He left his role with the Italian team last month to treat a new phase of his pancreatic cancer
Just weeks after Sinisa Mihajlovic, another big name in Serie A of the 1990s passed away. Italian football legend Gianluca Vialli, a former striker who notably worked for Sampdoria and Juventus before ending his career at Chelsea, died on Friday at the age of 58 from pancreatic cancer.
The announcement was made by the Sampdoria club, where he had played from 1984 to 1992, with the key to a league title (1991), a Cup of Cups (1990) and a Champions League final (1992 ). “We will remember you as a boy and a relentless centre-forward,” the club wrote on their website.
💔
Ciao Luca. pic.twitter.com/8KAo9BsYaC
— U.C. Sampdoria (@sampdoria) January 6, 2023
The ex-Italian international (59 caps) had held the position of technical coordinator within the Squadra Azzurra since the appointment of Roberto Mancini, in 2018. He retired in December, to fight a new “phase of the illness” which broke out in 2017.
“After a long and difficult discussion with my wonderful team of oncologists, I have decided to suspend, I hope temporarily, my present and future professional commitments,” he explained.
