First a teammate at Sampdoria and Lazio, and then his assistant in the dugout in his Inter days. But for Italy Head Coach Roberto Mancini, Sinisa Mihajlovic was much more: a great friend, whose relationship went far beyond the pitch. And that is why Mancini wanted to dedicate a message to Mihajlovic, who passed away today at the age of 53 after a long illness.

"This is a day I never wanted to see, because I have lost a friend with whom I shared almost 30 years of my life, on the pitch and off it," said Mancini. "It is not fair that such an atrocious disease took away a 53-year-old man, who fought until the last moment like a lion, as he used to do on the pitch. And that is exactly how Sinisa will remain by my side, forever, even if he is gone, as he did in Genoa, Rome and Milan and later even when our careers took different paths."