Vialli determined to win cancer battle and walk his daughters down the aisle

Gianluca Vialli still has things left he wants to achieve.

For one, he wants to 'accompany his daughters to the altar' on their wedding days and he is also determined to live longer than his parents.

It is almost 12 months since the former Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea striker revealed his battle with pancreatic cancer.

'I didn't think it was that hard,' Vialli said recently, still maintaining his trademark, infectious smile. Vialli is sick, he has a serious illness but he has no intention of giving up.

Vialli has dealt with heartache and the death of loved ones in the 1990s as a player.

He was left in tears at the passing of close friend and Juventus team-mate Andrea Fortunato in 1995.

Fortunato was one of Italy's most exciting young players in the 1980s and 1990s as he excelled at full-back for Juventus.

But tragedy struck late in 1994 when Vialli's friend fell ill after complaining of lacking energy in games, often failing to complete 90 minutes.

Doctors diagnosed him with a rare form of leukaemia; he died on April 25, 1995 following a short fight with a tumour.

Vialli had cut his hair to show his friend he was in it together, the illness and the months of chemotherapy he was subjected to.

It was designed to remind Fortunato that he was not alone in his fight. It was yet another beautiful story of friendship that best describes Vialli as a person.

Vialli is also fighting for him now. He plans to defeat what Andrea could not and he knows he has the support of his friend and his family.

For a life that is punching him to new depths, Vialli has responded by kicking back, determined to show the warrior spirit he displayed as a player.

Life is a maze of emotions and fears, of suffering and joy; Vialli would never have thought of getting lost in this maze at the age of 55.

'I thought I had beaten the evil but the battle started again,' Vialli wrote in his new autobiography, 'Goals', in which the desire to live, to travel and to smile shines through.

His smile is unchanged, the colour of his skin now has a more opaque grain, but his funny expressions from his smile are always tender.

Vialli invites everyone to smile and not to hide it because of his cancer. All of his closest friends are there to support him in one of the hardest battles of his life.

It is a battle he has no intention of losing.

'I want to be an inspiration to others,' he adds.

'I want someone to look at me and tell me: "It's also thanks to you if I never gave up."'

The book has helped channel his feelings towards fighting the illness and has become a motivational tool to tell the many stories he has gathered from his life.

For Vialli, every story is a teaching. It is more than just an autobiography, a book detailing other people's sporting events.

It is the story of a struggling man taking on a serious illness and it is brimming with inspiring anecdotes.

Vialli was a lion on the field, at Sampdoria and Juventus as well as at Chelsea. He helped pave the way for Italians coming over to England.

He fought hard and raced, sweated and scored to defend the Chelsea shirt.

Today he is a lion wounded by the disease that continues to fight against him.

He has not been afraid to show the world his weary face as he stands tall in the face of adversity.

Vialli has chosen to resume a normal life despite the doctors' fears. He has vowed to die only once and not every day, he wants to carry out his life without any limitations.

His dream is to continue to travel between London, Cremona and Milan - the three places he calls home. And on his travels he wants to teach everyone how to live.