Football Genius: Gianluca Vialli

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Ciao Steemians!

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Gianluca Vialli had many nicknames for his fans, among them: The Lion King, Lucagol and Rambo. The last one, even though he might appear not very friendly and perhaps exaggerated, is quite clear on how he played during the match against his opponents, where he was thinking about just one thing: score to win. His goal vice was quite frequent, here are his statistics: 711 games played and 4 clubs of which he dressed the jersey during his career, counting also those with the Italian national team, 263 goals scored in total and only 8 assists, whom were not part of his striker profession. He started his career in the Cremonese and then exploded with Sampdoria, golden age those in couple with Roberto Mancini, during which he made his way scoring in Liguria during the eight seasons with Samp, team in which he carried the Number 9 on his shoulders. Leading the team to the victory of an historic scudetto in 1990-91, in addition to winning 3 Italian Cup and an Italian Super Cup.

He was really loved by Blucerchiati fans and they was really sad when he chose to abandon the team that made him famous, his intention was to improve himself and be able to aspire to win the prestigious trophies of football. Then he went to the Juventus court, in his first year he immediately managed to win a UEFA Cup, the following year he won his second scudetto of his career and the third year he joined the Olympus of the football Gods winning a Champions League. In the old lady he found himself having to lead the attack with players likes Roberto Baggio, Fabrizio Ravanelli and a very young Alessandro Del Piero, together with his teammates managed to win everything that was possible for a professional player at the club level.

After 16 years of Serie A but he felt the need for new challenges, he went across the sea to play in the Premier League in Chelsea, a team that in those years was not equipped with the economic power it has now and had also become a sort of Italian colony, as in its ranks, in those years when he moved to London they was playing in the team Gianfranco Zola and Roberto di Matteo, as well as a very famous old ken of Italian football, a certain Ruud Gullit, of whom Vialli took the place as a player-coach, the two they had different ideas and had a lot of discussions, so the management had to choose who to hold between the two, the choice fell on Italian. He managed to grab an excellent trophy loot even on English soil, winning an FA Cup, a league cup and especially the UEFA Cup and also Super Cup and Cup Winners' Cup.

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Not a very high player to be striker, 180 cm of pure fury and explosiveness, he performed several times in spectacular chilenas, a technical gesture that all the attackers worthy of this name aspire. His repertoire is very big and well stocked, rapacious of penalty area and impeccable finalizer. It was undoubtedly one of the best number 9 of that era, with the national team, however, did not have much luck, although in 1988 was included in the top 11 of the best players who disputed the Europeans in the then West Germany. Considered one of the best strikers of the '80s and' 90s, one of the few and only among the strikers to boast of having won all three major UEFA club competitions. Top scorer of the Under-21 European Championship of 1986 and of the Italian Cup 1988-89, in which he set the record of achievements in a single edition of the tournament with 13 goals, he also won the classification as the best scorer in the 1989 European Cup Winners' Cup 90 and of Serie A in 1990-91. He has participated in two editions of the World Cup, in 1986 and 1990, and as previously said a European Championship in 1988. He has been nominated several times for the Ballon d'Or, of which he was classified in the seventh editions' 88 and '91. In 2015 he was included in the Italian Football Hall of Fame.

During an interview, when asked "What do you eat special in Turin?" considering the fact that his performances in the Piedmont team were often of the highest level, he replied:

There is a very particular work environment, you are infected: an atmosphere that you need in life and on the bench. The main feature at Juve is the low head. Humility compared to what you win, which is always a lot. The club teaches you about the importance of burdens: it puts you in the right conditions to show how much you're worth, but then you have to give your best. At that point you win and you enjoy the honors. But for a little while because you have to win back soon after. Here, success is often a relief rather than a joy. Of course, in Barcelona they prefer aesthetics, beauty or even fun, while Juventus is wonderfully practical. I confess that in my Juventus years there has never been an executive to say: "I recommend, today we play well". Over and over, the sentence was: "I recommend, today we win".

During his Turin days, he was accused of having taken doping substances, and it was not the only one to be investigated. An investigation was opened and later, during a lawsuit the Doctor Agricola, a member of the medical staff, was found guilty. After having emerged from the unharmed affair in terms of sporting penalties, Gianluca admitted to having taken creatine, adding that the doses he assumed were those normally taken by all sportsmen, despite his declarations, however, did not lack many discussions about it. For some years now he is a sports commentator for a famous satellite broadcaster in Italy, he recently published a book in which he told of having fought against a tumor in the past year.

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