Gianluca Vialli Roberto ManciniGetty Images

'A perfect and courageous man' - Italy boss Mancini pays tribute to 'brother' Vialli as he details last meeting with late friend

Italy head coach has paid tribute to his close friend and former team-mate Gianluca Vialli, who passed away on Thursday aged 58 after a long battle with cancer.

Vialli was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer for a second time in 2021, having previously been given the all-clear in April 2020 following a 17-month struggle against the same condition.

Azzurri manager Mancini shared a very close bond with Vialli having been his team-mate at Sampdoria, and his friend was also a member of his Italy backroom staff as delegation chief.

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Mancini recalled seeing his friend for the last time on December 29. Speaking to Gazzetta, he said: "He was powerless, with little voice, but very lucid. We talked a bit about everything, he even asked me about the get-together in December with the youths. He wanted to know the developments of the project."

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In a heartfelt tribute, Mancini told Il Corriere dello Sport: "Luca was smiling, we joked. I told him that he was earning more than me at Sampdoria, the president was paying him more than me. A few days after Sinisa’s farewell, I lose another brother, a little brother, as I liked to call him.

“We met when we were 16 and we never split. The entire journey together. Azzurri’s youth sector, national team, Samp, joys and pain, victories and defeats. Those two nights at Wembley. Once we cried with sadness and bitterness, many years ago. The other time, we cried with joy, as we were united by destiny, before his death. Gianluca was the best of us, a complete striker, a perfect and courageous man."

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The Italy manager continued, "I’ve long hoped he could become the president of Sampdoria, he would have opened an extraordinary history, as when he was a footballer. It was a privilege to be his friend and a team-mate in football and life.

"He made me happy. He had a decisive role in the victory of the Euros. Players loved him. Gianluca had the strength and gave us the courage we didn’t know we had which he used to fight the illness, staying with us until he could.

"I say goodbye to another brother, after Sinisa. With his strength, I’ll go forward to dedicate to him something relevant, which we’ve been dreaming of for a lifetime."

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