Italy coach Roberto Mancini paid tribute to his friend and former teammate Sinisa Mihajlovic, who sadly passed away at the age of 53.
The former Bologna and Sampdoria coach died this morning at a clinic in Rome following a three-year battle with leukaemia. He was initially diagnosed with the disease in July 2019 and retained his role with the Rossoblu whilst managing the illness, undergoing three cycles of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. Mihajlovic was dismissed by Bologna back in September.
Speaking via TMW, Mancini expressed his sadness over the news of Mihajlovic’s passing and remembered their long history together.
“A day I never wanted to live. Goodbye Sinisa, my friend. You fought like a lion, you will always stay by my side. 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 is not fair that such an atrocious disease took away a 53-year-old guy who fought until the last moment like a lion, as he was used to doing on the pitch.
“And that is exactly how Sinisa will forever remain by my side, even if he is gone, as he did in Genoa, Rome and Milan and later even when we took different paths.”
Mancini and Mihajlovic spent seven years of their playing careers together, initially at Sampdoria before being reunited at Lazio, where they won a Scudetto.
Whilst Mancini was in charge of Inter, he appointed the former defender to be his assistant coach from 2006 to 2008, giving him his first taste of action in the dug-out.