Date: 7th February 2011 at 5:23pm
Written by:

Name: Gianluca Vialli

Club: Chelsea

Nationality: Italian

Position: Forward

Gianluca Vialli was a key part of the first real foreign influx of stars to join Chelsea under manager Ruud Gullit.

The Italian came to Chelsea from Juventus having won several domestic and individual awards. Despite not being a prolific goalscorer at Stamford Bridge he still chipped in strongly and formed a lethal partnership with natioanl team mate Gianfranco Zola.

In his first season he won the FA Cup which included two goals in a stunning comeback against Liverpool in the fourth round.

Vialli did however come accross problems and was often left out of the side as he had a strained relationship with Gullit and only played five minutes of the FA Cup final.

Thr forward brought both great skill and speed to the Chelsea attack and fully justified the one-time world record fee paid for him by Juventus.

In February of the following season, Chelsea removed Gullit from his position and installed Vialli as a player-manager.

The bald Italian stablised the Blues and they won the Cup Winners Cup. A solitary strike by substitute Gianfranco Zola was enough to beat Stuggart. Success also came domestically with Chelsea overcoming Middlesbrough with two goals after extra time in the League Cup Final.

By Darren Wells-Burr, Clean Sheets All Round – view original article here

 

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