Italy CT Roberto Mancini wrote an emotional letter to his friend Sinisa Mihajlovic, published on La Gazzetta Dello Sport: ‘He was my brother and inspired the best goal of my career.’
Mihajlovic died of leukaemia on Friday, December 16 at a hospital in Rome.
He first moved to Italy in 1992, when he joined Roma from Red Star Belgrade. He also played for Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter, sharing almost 30 years with Mancini.
They played together at Sampdoria and Lazio and Miha was Mancini’s assistant coach at Inter from 2006 until 2008.
“Since yesterday, I’ve lost a brother and I don’t feel I exaggerate by calling him this way. He really was a brother, because life made us such. First football and then life,” Mancini wrote in a letter published by Gazzetta Dello Sport.
“It’s hard to find the words when so little time has passed since the moment I thought: ‘Roberto, this time, you won’t be able to see him again’,” continued Mancini.
“He was no longer there yesterday, the last time he spoke to me, with those eyes that knew what to say even more than words, eyes that sometimes forced you to lower yours’, was on Tuesday morning.
“I will forever bring those words inside me, like the many things we told each other over almost 30 years, 28 precisely.
“Teammates and companions on the bench, always inside the dressing room where we liked each other, understood each other and supported each other, even by arguing.
“Over 28 years, I’ve seen a football leader grow, someone everyone would want in his team. I saw extraordinary free-kicks becoming perfect and impossible because I’d never seen anyone taking them like him. To me, he surely was the best in the world.
“I saw the coach born, his pride in becoming a father, and the fear of seeing his children grow because our paths crossed more and more, almost as if it was inevitable.
“I hope I taught him something too. Surely, he taught me how strong one must be. Sinisa was a warrior, and it’s not a clichée. His war was to prove stronger than those challenging him. He did it with the others and with leukaemia.
“To him, it was always too soon to stop fighting and it was never too late to encourage someone, a friend, a teammate, or one of his players. He fought until the end, like a lion, exactly as he used to do on the pitch.
“He will always be close to me even if he is no longer here. As he did in Genoa, Rome and Milan and even later, when we took different paths. For this reason, now that he is no longer here, I like to think that he went somewhere else.
“Wherever he is, he will continue making me feel his strength with his iron hands, providing assists as he did that day in Parma.
“People have been talking about my backheel goal for years, but Sinisa’s corner kick was perfectly designed and we knew each other so well on the pitch that I knew exactly where the ball would go.
“That goal is a gift. He inspired the best goals I scored in my career. He also scored many amazing goals, but none was as beautiful as the last one. The energy he transmitted over the last three years and the love for life he educated us to. For this reason, I still feel him close to me and he will forever be there.”
Mihajlovic played 315 games in Serie A scoring 38 goals.
He coached Catania, Fiorentina, Serbia, Sampdoria, Milan, Torino, Sporting CP and Bologna. The Rossoblu were his last club as a coach. He remained at the Stadio Dall’Ara for two and half years and was sacked this past September.
Rip ❤️🙏 legend
RIP Miha 🙏 a true Inter legend and great player. That left foot will always be remembered. I always backed Bologna everytime they played and followed them closely because of him. Live again.
Scored a hat-trick, all by free kicks, in a Series A match as far as I remember! A legend!
shame. really thought he beat it. he may of been Serbian but you can tell he loved Italy. as he never left and continued to live and work there for rest of his active life.