The one who was one of the best free-kick takers in football history has died at the age of 53 from leukemia he had suffered for several years
Football is mourning the death at the age of 53 of Serbian coach and former player Sinisa Mihajlovic, one of the best free-kick takers to remember during his time as a player. The one who was the coach of Bologna until September last year has died of leukemia from which he had been suffering for several years.
Born in 1969 in the present-day Croatian town of Vukovar, then Yugoslavia, and the son of a mixed marriage formed by Bogdan, a Bosnian Serb truck driver, and Viktorija, a Croat worker in the footwear industry, Mihajlovic began playing for the Borovo and the Vojvodina . He rose to fame in his early twenties, during his time at Red Star Belgrade (1990-92), with whom he won the European Cup in 1991 alongside players such as Robert Prosinecki, Dejan Savicevic and Darko Pancev.
As a member of that golden generation of Yugoslav football that emerged just as the country was entering its final disintegration, with the terrible wars in the former Yugoslavia (1991-95), the conflict marked his career, which spanned from 1992 to 2006, the year of his After his retirement he spent entirely in the Italian ‘calcio’, where he went through the ranks of Roma (1992-94), Sampdoria (1994-98), Lazio (1998-2004) and Inter Milan (2004-06) .
In Italy, the mecca of football in the 1990s and early 21st century, his play evolved from initial roles of attacking midfielder or winger to full-back and mainly central defensive positions. He continued to build a truly luxurious record, with two Serie A titles, four Coppa Italia trophies and a European Cup Winners’ Cup and a European Super Cup with that Lazio in the late 1990s that broke the market and its golden age polite. stage by Swedish coach Sven-Göran Eriksson.
Owner of one of the best strokes in the history of football, with his left foot he combined the power in the shot with the variability of the pitches. Throughout his career, he even scored three free kicks in the same match, in a duel with Sampdoria against Roma at the Olímpico in the transalpine capital in December 1998.
Despite his mixed background, Mihajlovic lived scarred by the horrors of war ever since his family home was destroyed by Croatian troops and he chose the FR Yugoslavia, then Serbia and Montenegro and now Serbia. With the team ‘plavi’ he played in France at the 1998 World Cup, including a free kick against Iran, and in 2000 at the European Championship.
Already as a coach, his career on the bench also had a clear Italian color. He started as an assistant at Inter after hanging up his boots, and later managed Bologna, Catania, Fiorentina, the Serbian national team, Sampdoria, Milan, Torino, Sporting de Portugal and finally Bologna again as head coach, where he was fired last December.
Having been diagnosed with leukemia in July 2019, he received a bone marrow transplant at Sant’Orsola Hospital in Bologna on October 29 of that same year and, despite the illness, continued to work as a coach of the Italian team, his last contribution to football. , who mourns his untimely farewell.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
