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Graeme Souness breaks down in tears as interview cut short during emotional Gianluca Vialli tribute

Graeme Souness breaks down in tears as interview cut short during emotional Gianluca Vialli tribute

Graeme Souness was reduced to tears during his tribute to Gianluca Vialli.

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar

Graeme Souness broke down in tears while paying an emotional tribute to Gianluca Vialli as his Sky Sports interview was cut short.

Vialli, who played for the likes of Chelsea and Juventus, sadly passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, aged 58.

The legendary Italian was a popular and beloved figure in football, with Souness providing a beautiful tribute to his former teammate.

Souness and Vialli played together at Sampdoria in the 1980s. And the 69-year-old paid his respects to his old club colleague in a hugely emotional interview with Sky Sports.

While speaking about Vialli's fight with cancer, Souness was reduced to tears, with presenter Hayley McQueen compassionately cutting the interview short.

The Liverpool legend said: "I've only had the news ten minutes ago... sorry, I've only had the news ten minutes ago and I can't tell you how good a guy he was.

"Forget football for a minute, he was just a gorgeous soul. He was a truly nice human being."

He added: "I went to Italy when I was 31-years-old. He was 20 and he was just fabulous to be around.

"Such a fun-loving guy, he was full of mischief. He was such a warm individual and a fabulous player.

"But I don't want to talk about his footballing, I want to talk about him as a human being.

"Because I don't remember when I hear his name, and I'm going to hear a lot of his name, correctly so and people paying plaudits to him, magnificent things about his playing ability... yeah - but what a human being - above all that, what a human being.

"And my condolences go to his family and his wife and they've been blessed that their paths crossed.

"The kids were blessed they had a dad like that, his wife was blessed to have a man like that."

Gianluca Vialli in action for Chelsea during his time at the club. Image: Alamy
Gianluca Vialli in action for Chelsea during his time at the club. Image: Alamy

The Scot continued: "I'm no doctor really but when I looked at him, I thought I saw a man who was still in the fight when he was here during the Euros and they managed to win it.

"I think it's so typical of him that he kept it very private, very personal and he took it on as I'd expect him to take it on.

"It was his fight, wanted to deal with it himself, didn't want to burden other people with it."

As well as playing for Chelsea, Vialli also managed the Stamford Bridge club, leading the club to FA Cup glory in 2000.

He was in charge of Watford, too, and, more recently, was a part of Italy's Euro 2022 triumph.

Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports

Topics: Graeme Souness, Football

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Darren Till. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

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