Gianluca Vialli He has been missed by his family, the fans and Italian and world football for a year. It is not a phrase of circumstance because if we want to be realistic, there are those who are missing a little more than others. Just as there are those who make his presence felt, in life, more than others. Call him charisma, ego, personality, in short, it is that way of being in the world that only a few people have. In an innate way, let’s be clear. Nothing studied, on the contrary, those who try to build that aura always do it in a blurry and lackluster way.
Vialli was much more than a footballer when he was a footballer, he was much more than a coach in the brief (and successful) period on the bench, and I am not simply referring to the double role of coach-player he had in Chelsea. She didn’t lose her sample size even after hanging up her boots. Courted by television broadcasters, managers, former presidents and fans.
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It is not the destiny of many to be able to stay on the crest of the wave, without shoes on their feet, or without a bench, perhaps a prestigious one, under their butt. Vialli had remained a captain but only because the former player cultivated above all the man. Protecting your privacy, avoiding social and media commitments. When it was there it was never banal, which is why it was special. In my own small way, I had confirmation of all this personally, on the eve of Italy-Armenia (which ended 9-1 for us), a match valid for qualifying for the 2020 European Championships, an event that we would have won in 2021.
In the headquarters ofOrder of Journalists of Sicily, at one of the courses that we are periodically obliged to attend, among the speakers were Paolo Rossi and Vialli, appointed a few days earlier as head of delegation of the Italian national team. This appointment had made it possible for the twins, Mancini and Vialli, to reunite again for the Italian cause. We all remember how it ended: the tearful embrace of the two who, after the last penalty, they gave us the second European title. A joy that soothed the heaviness of that period, unforgettable. How unforgettable that morning was with Rossi, also mourned, and Vialli talking about each other a few meters from me.
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As a fan of his I had just read Goals – 98 stories + 1 to face the most difficult challenges the book in which he had collected 98 sports stories plus his own, autobiographical. Motivation, meditation and acceptance of what life may bring. No resignation but awareness of having to give everything, as long as we are allowed. The message of the spiritual Vialli, ready to give back to others, almost a teacher of life as well as of football, he reached out strongly to the Azzurri players in that perfect season and also to me that morning. I had the copy of the book with me, I tried to reach him among the crowd that was pressing to ask him for a souvenir photo, a selfie, to shake his hand. It wasn’t like the other times, that charisma fell on me with the fragile power that the illness had given it. Dignity and pride in facing a terrible enemy.
When I reached him I had all this in front of me, shyly and with a faint voice I instinctively called him “Mr. Vialli” to ask him for his autograph on the copy of the book and a photo that I jealously keep. Truly a great gentlemanGianluca Vialli.