Chelsea on Monday said that Gianluca Vialli’s recovery from cancer was “amazing news” after the former Blues striker revealed he had been given the all-clear from his second battle with the disease.
Vialli, 55, who also managed the English Premier League club, beat cancer in 2018, before announcing last year that he was fighting it again.
“Gianluca Vialli has been given the all-clear following a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Amazing news,” the club wrote on Twitter.
Photo: AFP
The former Italy and Juventus forward announced “tests showed no signs of the disease” in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica published on Monday.
Vialli said he had finished two cycles of chemotherapy, “one of eight months and another of nine” in December last year and was “fine.”
“I am happy, even if I say it to myself under my breath to be on the safe side,” Vialli said. “Regaining my health means looking at myself in the mirror again, seeing the hair grow and not having to draw my eyebrows on with a pencil. I’m very lucky compared with many other people.”
Vialli, who has been working with the Italy national team as a delegation chief, moved to Chelsea in 1996, not long after winning the UEFA Champions league with Juventus.
He played for the Blues until 1999, helping them to win the FA Cup in 1996-1997 and being appointed player-manager following the sacking of Ruud Gullit in February 1998.
Vialli went on to lead Chelsea to League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup glory that season, winning the FA Cup again in 1999-2000 before being sacked early the following season.
He later went on to manage Watford.
In his playing days Vialli also won Serie A and the Coppa Italia with Juventus in 1994-1995, but in Italy he is most remembered for being part of an exciting forward line alongside Roberto Mancini at UC Sampdoria, where he won the scudetto in 1990-1991, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, as well as three Coppa Italia.
Samp also came close to winning the UEFA European Cup in 1991-1992, narrowly losing 1-0 to Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona at Wembley Stadium in London.
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