Four goals. A victory for Chelsea Legends over Bayern Munich Legends. And an almost full house at Stamford Bridge. It was certainly a fitting way to remember the late, great Gianluca Vialli who sadly passed away in January this year.
Several of the players Vialli played alongside or coached during his time at Chelsea returned for the fixture, which was also a celebration of their 2012 Champions League victory.
The proceeds from the match are going to the Chelsea Foundation – the club’s charitable foundation – and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
The charity supports the work of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, which was where the iconic former Chelsea forward was treated for cancer prior to his death in January.
Fans based in the UK can still donate directly via their phone. All that’s needed is to text the word LUCA to 70085. You should receive confirmation that your donation was successful.
For supporters outside of the UK, you can donate directly on the Chelsea Foundation’s Just Giving page, which you can access by clicking here.
Chelsea: Cech (Hilario HT, Cudicini, 46); Gallas (Sinclair HT), Cahill, Terry, Bertrand (Harley HT, Essien 57); Mikel (Leboeuf 57), Essien (Makelele HT), Morris (Hutchinson HT, Tiago 57); Ramires (Granville 41), Kalou (Zola 57), Malouda (Flo 41, Casiraghi 57)
Our Michael Yiakoumi seen here with the late Italian international, Juventus and Chelsea super striker Gianluca Vialli said he always had time for the press and laughed and joked with us.
Gianluca Vialli (born 9 July 1964) is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played as a striker. Since retiring, he has gone into management and punditry and is a commentator for Sky Sport Italia.
Vialli started his club career at Cremonese in 1980 in his native Italy where he made 105 league appearances scoring 23 goals. His performances impressed Sampdoria who signed him in 1984. During which time he scored 85 league goals, won 3 Italian cups, the Serie A and the European Cup Winners Cup. Vialli transferred to Juventus for a World record £12.5 million in 1992. During this time he won the Italian Cup, the Serie A, Italian Supercup, UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup. In 1996 Vialli joined Chelsea and became Chelsea player manager the following season. In England he won the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup. He is one of ten footballers to have won the three main European club competitions, and the only forward to have done so; he is also the only player in European footballing history to have both winner’s and runner’s up medals in all three main European club competitions.
At international level, Vialli represented Italy at the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, where Italy finished in third-place on home soil. He also took part at UEFA Euro 1988, helping his nation to a semi-final finish, and was elected to the team of the tournament. During his twenty years long career as a professional footballer he scored 259 goals at club level, 16 goals with the national team, and 11 goals with the Italy national under-21 football team, for a total of 286 goals in more than 500 appearances.
In November 2018, Vialli revealed that he had successfully overcome a year-long illness with pancreatic cancer[78] He was treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.He was given the all-clear from pancreatic cancer in April 2020,but in December 2021 revealed that he had been diagnosed with the disease for a second time.[80] He died on 6 January 2023, in the Royal Marsden Hospital, at age 58.