‘La Bella Season’, Vialli and Mancini and Samp ’91, ‘we made the impossible possible

The Sampdoria d’oro of ’91 told in the book ‘La Bella Season’ (published by Mondadori 252 pages, euro 19) by the ‘twins of the goal’ Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini who together with their teammates, in a draft “a more than 30 hands ”as the two protagonists defined it, told an epic story, the extraordinary victory of the Sampdoria championship in 1991,“ transforming the impossible into possible ”. It is the story of a team written by all the protagonists of that enterprise and this story: Ivano Bonetti, Marco Branca, Umberto Calcagno, Toninho Cerezo, Giovanni Dall’Igna, Giuseppe Dossena, Giovanni Invernizzi, Srecko Katanec, Marco Lanna, Attilio Lombardo, Roberto Mancini, Moreno Mannini, Michele Mignani, Oleksij Mychajlycenko, Giulio Nuciari, Gianluca Pagliuca, Fausto Pari, Luca Pellegrini, Gianluca Vialli, Pietro Vierchowod. “A team of friends who consumed bones, sweat, blood and fatigue to carry on their shoulders, each as much as they could, a mission, a company: to make the impossible possible, to challenge and beat the status quo, to shake the waters up to unleashing a tsunami “. The book out today has already been a success in pre-order with 1000 copies sold. “Why did you think of writing this book involving all the comrades? For us as a very united group, everything is good to be together and not we could, after 30 years, miss the opportunity to work together on a project. We are all still here and we still don’t know for how long, and we said ‘we better write it now’. But it is also the first time that we tell each other and we did it all together, it is truly a project shared by more than 30 hands, an original project in the world of publishing “, said Gianluca Vialli.” It was a very useful exercise for us too. We give emotions and you remind people and go and remember within ourselves what we did, what happened and the sensations they generated was really nice and allowed us to relive those emotions. fascinating ”, added the former Sampdoria striker. “It is a novel, a story through which to tell and explain the fundamental values ​​that have allowed us to accomplish such a unique undertaking. Values ​​such as respect, altruism, friendship, sharing, loyalty and fidelity … it is a way for us to tell the secret of our company. It wants to be a transversal book, not only for football lovers or Sampdoria fans but for everyone regardless of age and fans. We also did it to satisfy a philanthropic project by donating our proceeds to the Gaslini non-profit association ”, added Vialli. This is echoed by the ‘twin’ Roberto Mancini, freshly renewed as head of the Italian national football team until 2026. “This feat was based on technical quality and friendship, the most important bond of that team. We still manage to achieve this today. meet up to remember times past, in 30 years I’m sure we will all still be here talking about it. Friendship is fundamental in life and work. Ours was a job we loved so much that we were happy to be together. lucky to still have with me guys who grew up with me and in addition to skills, friendship is fundamental “, said Mancini talking about the spirit that inspired this book. It is a journey-memory in the football (and other) life of a group of friends who, under the guidance of Vujadin Boskov, and with a president-patron like Paolo Mantovani, made “the impossible possible”. “Mantovani? He was an intelligent person in the sense that he always managed to find this great balance in the management of the club between the emotional and the business side. He always found this balance, he was a visionary, he saw ahead, he had the vision and the will of David against Goliath, to beat the status quo, to create a team capable of shaking the waters and making the impossible possible, he was charismatic and engaging. We went to bed in Sampdoria pajamas, it was a second skin for us, ready to put on the helmet and go into a battle. He could trust you, he was always clear and direct. In the book there is an almost constant presence of Mantovani ”, continued Vialli in narrating the book in an online meeting. “Boskov? His skill was in playing down any situation, especially the most difficult. The Sampdoria fans will get excited, but it is also for everyone else, a beautiful thing has happened and perhaps unthinkable in other times ”, Mancini added.