World football mourns Sinisa Mihajlovic: his coach and former footballer loses leukemia battle | Series A

As a footballer, Sinisa Mihajlović was a powerful defender with an imposing left foot. In the early 1990s, he knocked on the top of European football by winning the European Cup I, the predecessor to the UEFA Champions League, with Red Star Belgrade.

This led to Mihajlović moving to Serie A a year later, where he was found to be one of the best defenders in Italy, first at Roma and later at Sampdoria.

At the end of the 1990s, this led to a major move to Lazio, who won the title in 2000 with Mihajlović at the center of defence. Blessed with a fantastic free kick, Mihajlovic ended his footballing career after a few years in Italy with Inter. With 28 goals from free kicks, he remains the record holder in Serie A.

After his active career, Mihajlović entered the coaching profession. The Serb coached a few Italian clubs and from 2012 to 2013 he also coached his country’s national team.

Mihajlovic’s last job was as a coach at Bologna, where he had been working since 2019 and was fired in early September. The former defender has been battling leukemia for several years, a battle that has also kept him off the bench several times.

At the beginning of this week, Mihailović was admitted to a Romanian hospital with a serious infection, where he passed away today at the age of 53. He leaves behind a wife and five children.