A football jersey worn by late Italy
striker Gianluca Vialli during his glory days at Juventus was
found Sunday morning in a park in Cremona after disappearing
from a trattoria in the surrounding province last Thursday.
Italian soccer 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 and reach the European
Cup final during his time with them in the 1980s and early
1990s.
He won the Serie A title again and 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 soccer was still mourning Sinisa
Mihajlovic, a Serbia coach and former player who had spent most
of his career in Italy, after be died of leukemia in December.
The losses were particularly painful for then Italy manager
Roberto Mancini, who was close friends to 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 had pride of place 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 coach, for luck, and celebrated wildly with
his old friend when the Azzurri beat England on penalties to
lift the 2020 European championships.
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