(ANSA) - GENOA, JAN 21 - Five thousand wanted to remember Luca Vialli on the day of the mass that Sampdoria organized in the Church of Jesus in Piazza Matteotti in Genoa.
The Sampdoria club wanted to pay homage to the deceased champion and did so with a ceremony that saw Sampdoria of the Scudetto, the current one, and many, many fans present.
Pagliuca, Vierchowood, Mannini, Invernizzi, Salsano, Pari, Pellegrini, Bistazzoni, Nuciari, Dossena, Lombardo, Branca, Bonetti and of course Lanna, now president of Sampdoria, present with the other board members Panconi and Bosco, Romei absent.
But also Boskov's deputy Pezzotti, the Mantovani family and the entire current team led by Stankovic with the various staff.
Nobody wanted to miss the appointment with the memory of the great champion "who was above all a friend" as Pietro Vierchowood underlined.
"He deserved an official tribute - explained Lanna - and it was right that we remember him as a team and as a city. Luca was a champion and a transversal man, a boy that everyone liked and a positive person, always very balanced and intelligent who said the right things at the time right. Very attached to this shirt and this city."
Officiated by Don Pigollo, the mass saw the memory of Attilio Lombardo, who read a passage from the Gospel and above all of Francesca Mantovani, daughter of Paolo, who remembered it struggling with her voice almost broken by tears.
"You are our Vialli alé alé - he said off the cuff - and even the chants we hear from the fans during this ceremony are not disrespectful but a song for you and you deserve it all. You have always faced everything in a positive way and you taught me to forgive In these days I have listened to and read all the messages of the last five years, both written and vocal and when I asked you 'how are you Luca?'
you answered 'heh head up and chest out Luca Vialli alé alé' writing it yourself".
The ceremony was also attended by the president of the Liguria region Giovanni Toti,
(HANDLE).