Gianluca Vialli in sixteen sentences: from the courage to kick to the fear of dying

The great champion, the Captain who today the world mourns, knew how to do it not only with the ball but also with words. And his famous phrases are countless. A mixture of wisdom, practical sense, fantasy and fatalism. Here they are.

The courage to kick
“I know how to do it. But every time you kick to score, it’s always like the first time: you need a lot of courage. And, also, a bit of luck».

The fighter
“99% of the battle is about getting yourself in the right frame of mind. If you quit once, it becomes a habit.”

That shot from eleven meters
Vialli: «A penalty save is a checkmate».

“Try me”
«Losers respond to the blows of life, why me? Winners answer: put me to the test».

The insults after the farewell to Sampdoria
«After leaving Sampdoria: I will miss the “fuck you” that I used to take not only in the weeks leading up to the derby».
The love for Sampdoria
«For Mantovani we went to bed in Sampdoria pajamas».

Zeman’s statements on doping
«Bullshit of a terrorist.’

With Sacchi «we never understood each other»
«He doesn’t care that a player scores a mountain of goals, because he favors the game system over men».

Lippi
«He was my messiah, my role model from all points of view»

«Deer coming out of the forest» (by all associated with Ruud Gullit)

«I had problems with my girlfriend at the time, one day she invited me to her house and told me: when you leave the locker room, you look like a deer coming out of the forest».

Pirlo
«He is an orchestra conductor, he dictates the times, he lets the team play but in the last 30 meters he puts in assists… If I had a midfielder like that, I would have scored twice as many goals. Being a decisive player, however, when he runs one cylinder slower than usual, the whole team suffers ».

Juve
«Juve is a philosophy. You may like it or not but it is something unique. For me it was a privilege to be part of the history of that company. It is not a perfect company but it has a winning DNA. When you wear that shirt, you feel the weight of it».

Victory is a duty
«For Juventus, victory does not bring happiness, but relief. It is the completion of a duty, not the attainment of a summit.”

I grew up with Carosello
«I grew up in the oratory, like everyone else. There was no PlayStation, the TV only had one channel. I am from the Carosello generation. And like everyone I learned to play football from priests; provided that you also attend catechism”.

What will be next?
“I am afraid of dying. I don’t know when the light goes out what’s on the other side. But I’m also kind of excited to find out.”

If sickness is opportunity
«Illness is not exclusively suffering: there are beautiful moments. Life, I didn’t say it, but I fully agree, is made up of 20 percent by what happens to you but 80 percent by the way you react to what happens. And the disease can teach you a lot about how you are made, it can also be an opportunity».