Sinisa Mihajlovic’s wife, Arianna, reveals Bologna continued paying their former coach’s salary after his death and until the end of their deal.
Mihajlovic died of leukaemia in December 2022 and had been sacked by Bologna only three months earlier, on September 6, 2022.
“Sinisa didn’t expect it and didn’t take it well at all,” Arianna Mihajlovic, wife of the late ex-defender told Il Messaggero.
“He had said he didn’t want to resign and wanted to fight. Bologna made a different choice and I can’t judge them. The club paid my husband’s salary until the end of his contract. An extraordinary act that gave me certainties in a moment of disorientation.”
Bologna meet another ex-club of Mihajlovic, Lazio, in the next Serie A game.
“Bologna President Saputo, but also Bergamini, Fenucci, Marchetti e Di Vaio never forgot me. There was an exceptional rapport with Sabatini as well. It’s a special club and a special city. They were in our hearts even before the illness; after that, it became deep love. All the weeks we spent in hospital, the struggles at the training ground. We shared these moments with amazing people.”
Mihajlovic’s wife said she’s been facing her husband’s death with the help of a therapist.
“The professional I’ve been talking to told me at some point: ‘Either you stand up and live for your sons or you let yourself go.’ I won’t deny it. Nothing is the same anymore,” she admitted.
“I have amazing sons and a lovely granddaughter. I want to live. I see my friends; I deal with the business that Sinisa was in charge of. I do have difficult moments, but I overtake them thanks to my sons and daughters’ help.”
Mihajlovic played 315 games in Serie A, scoring 38 goals for Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter. After his retirement in 2006, he became Roberto Mancini’s assistant at Inter and was appointed for the first time as a first-team coach in Serie A by Bologna in 2008.
The former defender also coached Fiorentina, Serbia’s national team, Sampdoria, Milan, Torino and Sporting CP before returning to Bologna in January 2019.
A few weeks after extending his contract with the Rossoblu, he revealed he had been diagnosed with leukaemia.