Like Jürgen Klopp, he humiliated Guardiola, now he loses his life

After a long battle with leukaemia, former Real Madrid footballer Sinisa Mihajlovic passed away on Friday 16 December. The Serbian footballer had reported in 2019 about his tough illness: "I always undergo medical tests, as my father died with cancer, but you always think that it won't touch you. My hope is that the disease has been detected at an early stage. It's not tears of fear that I have. I respect the disease and I will face it with my chest puffed out, looking it in the eyes, as I have always done".

The former Borovo, Vojvodina, Roma, Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter player, who coached Bologna in Italy never left his squad while battling the tough illness, until September when he was sacked for his constant comings and goings from hospital. Mihajlovic stood out as a centre-back and sweeper but what stood out the most was the quality of his left foot with which he managed to go down in history as one of the best free-kick takers in the history of the game.

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Along with Andrea Pirlo, he shares the record for most goals scored from a free-kick in Serie A history with 28 goals, as well as being the only player in history to score three goals from a free-kick in the same match. His honours list includes one League with Vojvodina (1989); two Leagues (1991 and 1992), one European Cup (1991) and one Intercontinental (1991) with Red Star; one League (2000), two Cups (2000 and 2004), one Italian Super Cup (1998 and 2000), one Cup Winners' Cup (1999) and one European Super Cup (1999) with Lazio and one League (2006), two Cups (2005 and 2006) and one Italian Super Cup (2005) with Inter. He also collected 63 caps (10 goals) for Yugoslavia.

Italian football pays tribute to the Serbian Sinisa Mihajlovic, former player and coach who passed away on Friday due to leukaemia, which he had been suffering from since 2019. As soon as the death of the former Lazio, Roma, Inter, Sampdoria and Red Star player, with whom he was European champion in 1991, became known, the Italian football world showed its condolences to the Serbian's family and flooded the networks with statements and memories of a very important figure in Italy. As a coach he managed Catania, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Milan, Torino, Bologna and the Serbian national team.

“We do play football”

Mohajlovic is remembered for his strong temperament. In fact, he once had a strong cross with Pep Guardiola. In 2015 they played the Audi Cup, Guardiola with Bayern Munich, and Mihajlovic with Milan and criticised the Spanish coach by telling him that his team did play football and not ballet like Guardiola's team. This humiliation was like Klopp's when he told him that his football was heavy metal and not classical music.