Football great Vialli died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 58 on January 6.
Vialli helped Sampdoria win the Serie A title in 1991, the 1990 Cup Winner’s Cup and three Italian Cups as well as reach the European Cup final during his time with them in the 1980s and early 1990s.
He won the Serie A title again along with the Champions League after moving to Juventus in 1992.
He then joined Chelsea in 1996 and became player-manager in 1998.
His death came as Italian football was still mourning Sinisa Mihajlovic, a Serbian coach and former player who had spent most of his career in Italy, after he died of leukemia in December.
The losses were particularly painful for then Italy manager Roberto Mancini, who was close friends with Vialli, his former strike partner at Sampdoria and a member of his backroom staff for the national team, and Mihajlovic.
The number nine Juve shirt was worn for three years by the legend from Cremona and was proudly displayed in the Franca e Luciano eatery at Livrasco di Castelverde, in the province of the Lombardy city.
It was stolen by an unknown thief, and returned after the owners of the trattoria made an impassioned plea in local and national media.
Vialli was also a popular media figure and Sky pundit before Mancini brought him into the Italy set-up, where he was always the last man off the team bus, for luck, and celebrated wildly with his old friend when the Azzurri beat England on penalties to lift the 2020 European championships.
ANSA
