Gianluca Vialli: Gabriele Gravina’s emotional letter.
Gianluca Vialli: Gabriele Gravina’s emotional letter.
Through the official website of the FIGC Gabriele Gravina wanted to share a letter addressed to Gianluca Vialli: “Dear Gianluca, at the end of the day it is all about hugs. The long and warm embrace of the fans and all soccer fans that accompanied your exceptional career as a footballer. The unbreakable embrace that binds you to the people who were lucky enough to know you closely and who love you. The unexpected embrace we exchanged in the first phone call in which you accepted the role of head of the national team delegation with enthusiasm, but also with the modesty that marked your victorious experience as a federal manager. The intense, weeping, smiling and lived embrace you exchanged with Roberto in a moment of collective ecstasy, yet so intimate and private.”
“And even now, in the deep sorrow in which we have abandoned ourselves for the news we never wanted to receive, we of the Azzurra family huddle in a big hug, physical and virtual, to try to find comfort and try to ease the suffering of the separation from such a special person. Because that is exactly the point, dear Gianluca, you are the special person who helped make a group of ordinary people exceptional. It was your elegant charisma, together with your will to live and win that you instilled in everyone, that made the Azzurri, your Azzurri, Champions of Europe.”
“At Wembley, Italy made history also and above all thanks to your ability to make the people around you better with never trivial reflections, curious questions and whispered advice. A unique contribution and heritage both humanly and professionally. That is why the image I cannot get out of my mind is much more than a memory, it is a legacy that survives the pain. It is the embrace with which the Italian fans in London greeted you after your European triumph in July 2021. Thousands of arms that encircled you once again and never wanted to let you go. Like today. Safe travels,” the letter concludes.
Gianluca Vialli’s story told in pictures
