Sinisa Mihajlovic dies – AS.com

The football world is in mourning. This afternoon Sinisa Mihajlovic passed away at the age of 53. The historic ex-soccer player and coach had been battling leukemia since July 2019, and, as ‘Corriere dello Sport’ points out, “he did it until the last minute without achieving the feat of saving his life”.

The Serb’s last public appearance took place at the beginning of December, for the presentation of a book. As a footballer, he has worn the jerseys of Borovo, Vojvodina, Red Star, Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter. He was a great defender, but his goals are indelible (many of which are free kicks). He scored almost 100 in his 563 games as a professional and on December 13, 1998 he made history in Serie A, becoming the first player capable of scoring a hat-trick from a direct free kick, during Lazio-Sampdoria (5-2).

He began his coaching career in 2006 at Inter, as second, and was on the benches at Bologna, Catania, Fiorentina, Serbia, Sampdoria, Milan, Torino, Sporting Lisbon and again Bologna, who fired him on September 6 after having reaped three draws and two defeats in the first five days of Serie A. In 2015, he had the courage to throw a very young Gigio Donnarumma (barely 16 years old) into the Milan goal, thus beginning the goalkeeper’s career.

Since his battle with leukemia began, he has been training Bologna from afar for several months. The disease returned strongly last March, as the coach had publicly acknowledged: “These diseases are bastard, there are signs that he could return.”

The family confirmed the sad news with a statement.: “The wife Arianna and the children Viktorija, Virginia, Miroslav, Dusan and Nikolas, the granddaughter Violante, the mother Vikyorija and the brother Drazen, announce in their pain the unjust and premature death of their exemplary husband, father, son and brother, Sinisa Mihajlovic. A unique man and an extraordinary professional, available and kind to everyone. With courage he fought against a terrible disease, we thank the doctors and nurses who followed him in these yearsYes, with love and respect, in particular to Francesca Bonifazi, Dr. Antonio Curti, Professor Alessandro Rambaldi and Dr. Luca Marchetti. Sinisa will always be with us, we live with the love that she gave us.