On Friday, Sinisa Mihajlovic, one of the most recognisable players from the heyday of Serie A, passed away at the age of 53 after leukaemia finally took hold of the charismatic and divisive figure.
After spending the majority of his adult life in Italy, where he was admired for his play and despised for his friendship with notorious Serbian nationalist paramilitary warlord Arkan, Serb Mihajlovic, a strong defender and mercurial set-piece taker, passed away in Rome.
Mihajlovic, who played for several clubs in Italy and represented the former Yugoslavia at the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championships, was mourned by his wife Arianna and their five children for his “unjust and premature death.”
He later became a coach, largely in Serie A and most recently with Bologna, where he was working when he was diagnosed with leukemia just before the 2019-20 season.
His coaching career was less distinguished than what he achieved on the field in Serie A, where he won the title with both Lazio and Inter Milan and was a prominent player when the league was considered the world’s strongest. Mihajlovic moved to Roma in 1992 from Red Star Belgrade, where he won the European Cup, but he is best known for his time at Lazio.
He won the Serie A title, two Italian Cups and the Cup Winners Cup in his six-year spell with Roma’s fierce cross-town rivals, and remains a hero figure among Lazio supporters.
Lazio remembered “a warrior on the pitch and in life”. “The courage he showed on the field of play was only second to that which he showed in the face of a serious disease which never weakened his spirit,” his former club said in a statement.