Goals: Inspirational Stories to Help Tackle Life's Challenges

Description

RIP GIANLUCA VIALLI 1964-2023 'I WANT TO INSPIRE PEOPLE. I WANT SOMEONE TO LOOK AT ME AND SAY: "BECAUSE OF YOU I DIDN'T GIVE UP".' Goals is a very personal and deeply-moving collection of life-affirming and inspirational real-life stories from which the late Chelsea and Italy football legend Gianluca Vialli drew great strength and resolve whilst living with pancreatic cancer. The stories and the individuals involved were selected by Vialli because they offered him comfort and inspiration at the time of his greatest challenge, and he felt that they can do the same for many of us, whatever it might be that we are facing. The result is a beautifully-written and touching narrative which is by turns vital and poignant, spine-tingling and heart-rending. The very last story in Goals is Vialli's own, bravely and movingly chronicling his battle with this cruel illness.

Born in the Italian city of Cremona in 1964, Gianluca Vialli started his career with his hometown club of Cremonese. He then played for Sampdoria and Juventus, winning both Serie A and a European trophy with each of those clubs. In 1996 he moved to London to play for Chelsea, and rapidly established himself as a folk hero amongst the Stamford Bridge faithful. With Chelsea he won the FA Cup, the League Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. Following retirement in 1999, Vialli had spells managing both Chelsea and Watford. For his country, he won 59 caps and scored 16 goals between 1985 and 1992, playing at two World Cup finals. On 6th January 2023 it was announced that Gianluca Vialli had passed away aged 58. He leaves behind a wife, two children and the respect, admiration and love of the global football community.

Vialli has chosen 90 tales from the familiar - Jesse Owens, Billie Jean King - to some lesser-known, such as Alfonsina Strada, a pioneering woman who competed in the Giro d'Italia in 1924. His own chapter comes right at the end... a stark, moving account of the brutal physical and mental toll of months of cancer treatment. * The Times * The book ends with the most compelling story - as Vialli details how two bouts of cancer and chemotherapy affected him. * The Guardian * Goals, a collection of 90 inspirational stories from the world of sport, seems particularly timely as society tries to cope with the ongoing agonies and disruption of the coronavirus crisis. * Mail on Sunday * Goals is a fascinating list of people, some of whom you have never heard of and when you hear their stories you think to yourself "wow, that is incredible", as indeed is the career of Gianluca Vialli. * BBC Radio 5 Live with Nihal Arthanayake *