Italy coach Roberto Mancini remembered his friend and former teammate Sinisa Mihajlovic, being overwhelmed with emotion.
The pair spent seven years together as teammates during their playing careers, initially at Sampdoria before winning the Scudetto in the Italian capital with Lazio. After they hung up their boots, Mancini appointed Mihajlovic to be his assistant coach at Inter, a sign of their strong relationship together.
Mihajlovic sadly passed away aged 53 at a clinic in Rome on Friday following a long battle with leukaemia. He was diagnosed with the illness in July 2019 and underwent three cycles of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, remaining in charge of Bologna throughout.
Speaking via La Lazio Siamo Noi, Mancini opened up about his relationship with Mihajlovic.
For me he was a brother, yes I lost a brother because we went beyond friendship. Inevitable when you share so many emotions next to each other. I saw him at Red Star the year he won the Champions League.
Roma beat Sampdoria to Mihajlovic’s signature but after two years the Serbian defender signed for the Ligurian outfit, joining up with Mancini.
From that moment, our great adventure began. It was inevitable, but together we shared many years at Samp, at Lazio and at Inter. We won a lot, almost everything, on a shared path.
Ours was not a clan, it was a great group of friends. Difficult to catalogue memories, how would that be possible? There are hundreds of them, difficult even to make a choice.
Mancini then remembered how Mihajlovic helped him score the most beautiful goal of his career, his magical strike away to Parma on 17th January 1999.
Sinisa made me score the most beautiful goal of my career. I had scored many others, but that one remains unique. Today I can say it’s the most beautiful indeed.
