Famous Serbian football player and coach Sinisa Mihajlovic has died at the age of 53 after a long battle with cancer.
The defender, known for his ball kick and set-piece skills, announced his illness in June 2019.
“I have leukemia. I was in real shock when I heard this news. I cried for a few days, but these were not tears of fear. I respect the disease, I will face it by looking into its eyes. I’m waiting to go to the hospital where I will start the fight. “The disease is aggressive, but it is possible to win,” wrote Mikhailovich.
– I told this to the players. He explained that we must attack and strive for victory. We will sit back and defend ourselves – they will beat us. I have to use this tactic in the fight. I am confident that I will win this war. I will win the war for my family, my children, and everyone who loves me.”
At that time Mikhailovich was already head coach of Italian Bologna, but he retired during chemotherapy. However, after an active treatment and recovery period, the specialist, who signed a new three-year contract with the club a few days before the news of the disease, returned to his duty.
The Serbian player initially worked with the team over Zoom in remission and then returned to active management. As a result, Mihajlovic worked for the Italian team until 22 September 2022, when he was fired.
The Serbian became famous for his career as a football player. Playing in the central defender position, he immediately drew attention as he was not tall, but stood out with a powerful blow.
He started his career in Vojvodina, where he won the Yugoslav national championship together in the 1988/89 season. Furthermore, Mihajlovic scored four goals in his first season, which he started at the age of 17.
In the next campaign, he scored 11 goals in 28 matches, but Vojvodina, who shot last season, dropped to 11th place. Well, in the middle of next season, the defender moved to the main Yugoslav club Belgrade “Crvena Zvezda” and became the champion of the country with him twice in a row, but not only.
In 1991, Belgrade won the Champions Cup and then the Intercontinental Cup, with an excellent squad of future European and world stars.
A number of the best clubs in Europe lined up behind the player, and he moved to the unconditionally strongest league of that time – the Italian Serie A, where he played until the end of his career.
Mihailovic first spent two seasons in Rome, then four years with the Genoese Sampdoria, and then became a legend, playing six years with another metropolitan club, Lazio. The Serbian player ended his career with two years of performance for Inter Milan.
During his years with the Apennines, the defender has won trophies for only two teams and won Cup titles once and twice for Lazio and Inter. He has two wins with the Nerazzurri in the Italian Super Cup with the Romans – one more.
He also won the Cup Winners’ Cup and the European Super Cup once with Lazio.
It is interesting that in the semi-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup (the second most important European club tournament of that time) in 1999, Lazio beat Lokomotiv Moscow with only a foreign goal (1:1, 0:0).
Mihajlovic failed to score in that tournament, but played all the matches from start to finish. Including the match in Moscow, where the Romans lost in the second half after Zaza Janashia’s goal, but Alen Bokshich evened the score with a pass from Zenit coach Roberto Mancini.
Mikhailovich won the European Championship in 1990 as part of the youth national team of Yugoslavia, playing 63 matches for the adult national team and scoring 10 goals.
In total, he scored 52 goals with direct free kicks in his career, 28 of them in Serie A, which is still the record of the Italian championship! His strikes earned him the nicknames “Hog Bomber” and “Trucker”.
As a coach, he worked with Bologna, Catania, Fiorentina, Serbia national team, Sampdoria, Milan, Torino, Sporting Portugal and again Bologna.
In 2019, Mihailović received the Serbian Coach of the Year award as well as the Gazetta Sports Legend Award for his perseverance. In April of this year, he was awarded manager of the month in Serie A, confidently saving Bologna from relegation and placing them in the middle of the table.
Mihailović is survived by his wife, Arianna Rapaccioni, and their five children.
Source: Gazeta
Gregory Robert is a sports aficionado and a writer for “Social Bites”. He provides in-depth coverage of the latest sporting events and trends, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the world of sports.