Vialli, in London in the hospital where he is being treated: everyone is praying for him

From our correspondent Andrea Ramazzotti

December 21st
– Londres

London’s sun does not warm. Neither the atmospheric temperature nor the hearts. Especially those of Gianluca Vialli’s family and friends who in the clinic not too far from his home in the City are once again playing the most difficult game of his career, the one for life. Yesterday the chants and slogans of a group of nurses in front of the entrance gate weren’t for him: among the cars and buses honking their horns as a sign of solidarity, they braved the biting cold to ask for better economic treatment. They went on for almost ten hours to make their voices heard, with an unlimited number of “substitutions” among the protesters, to make their voices heard.

lightning trip

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Gianluca’s mother, Maria Teresa, and brother Nino, who had already returned to Cremona with the rest of the family, made up of their father Gianfranco, their sister Mila and the other brothers Marco and Maffo, did not listen to them: theirs was a lightning trip to make you feel the love of the whole “team” that lives in Italy. In the next few days, probably on Christmas Eve, Mila will take a flight to London, in a sort of turnover that will involve all the Viallis. One way to demonstrate to the former striker of Cremonese, Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea that at his side he has not only his wife Cathryn (who also has to take care of his daughters Olivia and Sofia), but all those who love him.

clinical picture

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On the health conditions of the head of the blue delegation (last week through a press release from the Football Federation he took a break from the role that everyone hopes he will return to play again) the utmost secrecy is in force. The staff of the clinic (which has Professor David Cunningham among its luminaries) yesterday even denied the presence of Gianluca and appealed to the strictest respect for privacy: no communication, no medical bulletin and access inside clearly controlled properly. Nothing is filtered even by the nurses, engaged between choirs and placards in their trade union battle. At the end of a day with so much apprehension and zero Christmas spirit (despite the large lighted fir tree in the courtyard of the structure), there is the fact that the mother and brother Nino have returned to Italy.

new cycle

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After the ugly evil has reared its head, Vialli is undergoing a new cycle of therapies that are testing him on a physical level, but at the same time he has no desire to give up. The suffering of these years has been great, the temper is still that of the wrestler who thought he had defeated pancreatic cancer which occurred in 2017 and “treated” with seventeen months of chemotherapy and an operation. Treatments that were not enough to eradicate “that unwelcome traveling companion”, as he defined him in several interviews, also to give hope to other patients. He was afraid to sing Vialli victory and unfortunately he was right. The former number 9 is once again playing the game for his life by putting all of himself into it, as he did on the pitch during an extraordinary career in which he won almost everything and scored just under 300 goals between the various clubs in which he played – from Cremonese to Sampdoria, from Juventus to Chelsea in England – and the national team.

go Gianluca

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Yesterday in Cremona, Genoa and Turin, but more generally throughout Italy, many fans went looking for information on the health of their former idol, but the news of Gianluca’s “battle” against cancer is also causing a stir in England growing. John Terry, the former Chelsea defender who Vialli himself had made his debut with the Blues shirt, reserved a thought for him on social media. “Come on and keep fighting, Luca. We all think of you, pray for you and send you our love and strength,” he wrote on Twitter. The best Christmas present for him would be to receive good news about his friend, but he’s not the only one who wishes for a progressive improvement in his clinical picture in these hours. Even Gianfranco Zola, who lives in London, is ideally next to his friend. Meanwhile, the FIGC and “brother” Mancini keep an open channel with the family. They hope and pray like everyone else. After Sinisa Mihajlovic’s farewell, now everyone is rooting for Gianluca to return to show his smile on the blue bench. It would be a better Christmas.