'We fell in love with each other' - Former Chelsea player and manager Gianluca Vialli on his special relationship with Blues fans

 
Jochan Embley28 March 2014

Former Chelsea player and manager Gianluca Vialli has said that he and Blues fans “fell in love with each other” during his time at Stamford Bridge.

Vialli, who won the FA Cup with Chelsea as both on the pitch and in the dugout, as well as multiple other honours, has said that he cherished the support fans gave him.

“I’ve been quite lucky during my career because I’ve played for only four clubs and every time I’ve managed to fall in love,” the Italian said. “With Chelsea fans, I had a fantastic relationship. We fell in love with each other. They never stopped encouraging me and when I became the manager the love and the passion went on.”

Vialli, 49, went on to praise the club’s travelling support, saying: “I think Chelsea fans were amazing every time we were playing away from home.

“I remember once we went to Old Trafford and we beat them 2-1. I happened to score very close to where our fans were sitting so I ran towards them and they became even louder. It was a wonderful feeling.”

He added: “You are basically an extension of the fans on the pitch. You are one of them wearing the shirt of the team you are playing for.”

Gianluca Vialli was talking on behalf of Barclays Football's #YouAreFootball campaign. To find out more go to Barclays Football on Facebook and @BarclaysFooty on Twitter.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in