Gianluca Vialli mentioned on Wednesday that he was taking a break from his position inside the Italy nationwide group set-up as he continues a long-standing battle with pancreatic most cancers.
“After a long discussion with my brilliant team of oncologists I have decided to suspend, I hope only temporarily, my current and future professional engagements,” Vialli mentioned in an Italian Football Federation assertion.
“My goal is to use all my mental and physical energy to help my body overcome this stage of the illness so that I be ready as soon as possible to face new adventures with you all.”
Vialli was first recognized with the sickness two years earlier than changing into Italy’s delegation chief, offering help to outdated buddy Roberto Mancini with whom he terrorised opposition defences in Serie A in the course of the Nineteen Eighties and early Nineties.
Nicknamed “the goal twins”, strikers Vialli and Mancini received the 1991 league title, the Cup Winners’ Cup, and three Italian Cups with Sampdoria.
Samp additionally got here near profitable the European Cup in 1992, narrowly shedding 1-0 to Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona at Wembley.
He then received Serie A and the Champions League with Juventus earlier than transferring to Chelsea in 1996, the place he was among the many first wave of international stars who helped revolutionise the Premier League.
He performed for the Blues till 1999, serving to them to win the FA Cup in 1997 and being appointed player-manager following the sacking of Ruud Gullit in 1998.
Vialli went on to steer Chelsea to League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup glory that yr, profitable the FA Cup once more in 2000 earlier than being sacked early the next season.
He later turned a revered pundit on Italian tv earlier than becoming a member of the Italy delegation, his tearful embrace with Mancini on the Wembley pitch one of many iconic pictures of Italy’s Euro 2020 triumph.
Vialli scored 16 targets in 59 matches for Italy however failed to duplicate his usually distinctive membership type on the worldwide stage.
At the peak of his powers he flopped on the 1990 World Cup on dwelling soil, shoved apart early on to create space for Roberto Baggio and Toto Schillacci, and his Italy profession by no means actually recovered.
At one level, he went over two years with out scoring a purpose for Italy, and his closing match for the nationwide group got here in 1992 when he was nonetheless in his late 20s.