Robert Baggio

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Vialli started his club career at his hometown club Cremonese in 1980, where he made 105 league appearances and scored 23 goals. His performances impressed Sampdoria, who signed him in 1984 and with whom he scored 85 league goals, won three Italian cups, Serie A and the European Cup Winners Cup. In 1992, Vialli transferred to Juventus for a world record £12.5 million. During his time at the Turin club, he won the Italian Cup, Serie A, Italian Supercup, UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup. In 1996, Vialli joined Chelsea and became their player-manager the following season. In England, he won the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup.

In Their Own Story

The rain at the Juventus Stadium didn't just fall; it hammered, turning the pitch into a slick, treacherous mirror under the harsh floodlights. The crowd held its breath, a collective silence heavy with anticipation as Baggio adjusted his ponytail, the white jersey glowing against the gloom. He received the ball near the halfway line, a defender lunging with desperate, muddy intent. With a subtle, almost cruel feint that sent the opponent sprawling into the sludge, Baggio glided past, his stride hypnotic and untouched by the chaos around him. The goal loomed, but he didn't rush. He struck the free-kick with the inside of his left foot—the ball curling impossibly around the human wall, dipping beneath the crossbar before the keeper could even twitch a finger.

Reader's Guide

Vialli moved to Juventus shortly after the 1992 European Cup final loss for a world record fee of £12.5 million. Although he struggled with injury, Vialli won the UEFA Cup in his first season with Juventus playing alongside players such as Roberto Baggio, Pierluigi Casiraghi, Paolo Di Canio and Andreas Möller, among other players, under manager Giovanni Trapattoni. During the 1993 UEFA Cup Final against Borussia Dortmund, Vialli set-up Baggio's decisive first goal in the first leg. Following the arrival of manager Marcello Lippi, Vialli helped Juventus win the Scudetto and the Italian Cup in 1995, scoring 17 league goals during the season; the club also narrowly missed out on a treble after suffering a defeat in the 1995 UEFA Cup Final to Parma, despite Vialli scoring a spectacular second leg goal. In January 1996, with his contract expiring in summer, Vialli decided to leave Juventus at the end of the season. He would finish his final season with Juventus by captaining the side to a Supercoppa Italiana victory (with Vialli scoring the only goal of the match) and a Champions League final win over defending champions AFC Ajax. During his four seasons with the club he totalled 102 appearances, scoring 38 goals.

Did You Know?

• Vialli is one of nine footballers to have won the three main European club competitions and the only forward to have done so.
• He is the only player in European footballing history to hold both winners and runners-up medals in all three mainstream UEFA club competitions.
• Vialli scored both goals in the 1990 European Cup Winners' Cup final victory over Anderlecht.
• He was the league top scorer in the 1990–91 Serie A season with 19 goals.
• Vialli became the youngest manager ever to win a UEFA competition at 33 years and 308 days old, a record later broken by André Villas-Boas.