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.
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”.
