Lazio and Inter Legend Sinisa Mihajlovic passes away

The footballing world was shook when the news of the former

manager Sinisa Mihajlovic’s death. A part of the infamous Red Star Belgrade team that won the European Cup in 1991, Mihajlovic spent most of his career at Italy, playing for the likes of Lazio, Sampdoria and Inter.

The former Yugoslavia international were teammates with Roberto Mancini at

when the duo won the Serie A in the 1999-2000 season under Sven Goran Eriksson. Mancini was shocked by the tragedy, calling the loss of his friend “not fair”.

Mihajlovic got into management immediately after his retirement from football and since 2006 has led teams like Bologna, Fiorentina, Milan and Torino. He was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2019 and has since been fighting the disease all the while managing Bologna. Although he was ousted as Bologna boss in September due to a string of bad results.

Italy manager Mancini conveyed his thoughts about his late friend, saying:

"This is a day I never wanted to live, because I lost a friend with whom I shared almost 30 years of my life, on and off the pitch.

"It's not fair that such a terrible disease took away a 53-year-old lad, who fought like a lion until the last moment, as he was used to doing on the pitch.

"And this is exactly how Sinisa will always remain by my side, even if he is no longer there, as he did in Genoa [with Sampdoria], in Rome [with Lazio] and in Milan [at Inter] and subsequently also when we took different paths."

Mihajlovic who was infamously a tough defender, fought leukaemia hard as he got a bone marro transplant right after he was diagnosed but earlier this year when he was told that the disease is back he defiantly said leukaemia was "very courageous in returning to face an opponent like me", perfectly showing his warrior spirit.

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