Former Chelsea player and coach Gianluca Vialli has died aged 58 after a battle with cancer.
The Italian, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer five years ago, played for and led the London club scoring 40 goals in 88 games between 1996 and 1999.
As a manager, he won three major honors during his time at Stamford Bridge, after he took over as player-manager in 1998, winning the League Cup and European Cup. Winners’ Cup in the first few months in charge.
Finally, he added the FA Cup to the trophy cabinet in 2000.
On the international stage, he has 59 caps for Italy, scoring 16 goals and participating in both the 1986 and 1990 World Cups.
More recently, he joined Roberto Mancini’s coaching staff with the national team, helping them win the European Championship after recovering from cancer in 2020.
He was re-diagnosed with the disease in 2021 and announced last month that he had resigned as head of the Italian national team.
Italy’s Corriere della Sera reported before Christmas that Vialli’s 87-year-old mother Maria Teresa and brother Nino had visited Vialli in a London hospital.
