The death of Gianluca Vialli has left a great void in the world of sport. In particular for some colleagues he was not only a friend but now a brother.
Died at 58 after fighting like a true warrior for the past 6, Gianluca Vialli he will forever be remembered as a champion. The Mancini family considered him a son. Even the mother of the national coach wanted to remember Vialli.
Roberto Mancini’s mother/ web archive-Read it
A special bond had been binding for years Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini. “We met when we were 16 and never parted. He was a lion right up to the end” – the words of the national coach. On 29 December, when Gianluca Vialli’s condition had further deteriorated, Mancini had flown to London, where the 58-year-old was hospitalized, for hug his friend for the last time: “He was powerless, with little voice, but very lucid. A lion to the last. We talked about everything and he even asked me how the December internship with the young players of the national team went. A few days after Sinisa’s farewell, I lost another brother“. – has concluded Mancini.
The memory of Roberto Mancini’s mother
The two footballers at the time of Sampdoria/ web archive-Leggilo
But the whole Mancini family was deeply attached to Gianluca Vialli, considered one of the family. Roberto Mancini’s mother, Marianna Puolo, considered him like a son and remembers him with very sweet words: “Gianluca was like a son to me, obviously without taking anything away from his mother who is suffering so much at the moment … Gianluca we followed him together with Roberto since his days at Sampdoria, we’ve seen him practically grow up, right now it’s also difficult to find the words. We are all saddened, it is really a difficult time. In a short time my son lost Gianluca, Sinisa and a dear childhood friend“. Greeting that also involved Stephanie Mancinithe coach’s sister, who had greeted Vialli with a post on Facebook: “Goodbye great man and champion, we will miss you”. Gianluca Vialli died after fighting for six long years against a pancreatic cancer discovered almost by chance in 2017. The former Juventus and Sampdoria striker had first been operated on in London and then had followed several cycles of chemotherapy but unfortunately, after a period in which he seemed to be better, the cancer had returned in recent months.
