Sinisa Mihajlovic is right: this disease must be very courageous to still want to go back to facing someone like him. And if the first time the outcome of the battle was predicted by a brilliant tweet from Gene Gnocchi: “Leukemia met Mihajlovic, now it’s leukemia cocks …”, now Sinisa himself warns her: “If it’s not the first lesson was enough, we will give him another “.
The cold shower arrived yesterday at noon in the press conference requested by the coach who, as always, played openly without hiding. The latest analyzes have highlighted “alarm bells” about the possible return of acute myeloid leukemia that had struck him two and a half years ago and that he had managed to eliminate after three courses of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. His story and his path of struggle had moved everyone. His surprise presence for the first championship in Verona in August 2019, after 44 days of isolation in the hospital, lost 15 kilos, his face hollowed out and covered by a mask that would soon become familiar to everyone, remains one of the most powerful images ever seen in the world of sport. Sinisa’s recovery has been surprising in recent years and he has forcefully returned to normal life, giving everyone, sick and not, a great injection of optimism, courage and launching a strong message linked to prevention, controls, the need to be donors.
It seemed all behind us, until yesterday: “But this disease is devious and bastard.” This time, however, Sinisa is not forced to tackle an opponent thrown into the net in a desperate tackle, but he can play ahead, as he loved to do on the pitch, to keep him from restarting. From Tuesday he will be hospitalized again at Sant’Orsola for a new period of treatment. He will miss some races, but he has already had everything set up to follow his Bologna remotely, like the first time. Sinisa already knows what awaits him, what he will have to do. He is more prepared, ready, aware and faces a different situation from the previous one. In the 5 minutes he told the world “I have to stop” again, he didn’t cry. The emotion has given way to a more serene, albeit firm tone. If two and a half years ago the atmosphere around was dramatic, yesterday’s one combined a mix of surprise, pain and anger, because no one imagined another stop.
Courage and intervention
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The forecasts for returning already exist, but it is useless to give dates now, certainly Sinisa aims to burn the times. Once again the way she asked the fans to support her boys and the promise that he will fight with them and they will fight for him, struck and moved by showing the man’s stature as well as that of the coach. That he is very attached to the team and the colors, more than the hard skin of “Serbian from head to toe” wants to show. And here, instead, we allow ourselves to reveal something more that makes us understand so much about him. In recent weeks, Sinisa’s disappointment with Covid cases that had decimated the team and a market in January that did not correspond to the needs has been read by some as the indicator of a decline in motivation. Bales. Suffice it to say that Sinisa became aware of those “alarm bells” for some time, after the challenge with Salernitana on February 26th. He lived the next match against Turin without saying anything to anyone. Immediately after, to have certainties related to the disease, he had to undergo a non-trivial surgery. Usually those who do it spend a week in the hospital, he made sure to go home that same evening. Despite the stitches, pains and recommendations of those who advised him to stay at home to rest, the next morning he showed up in Casteldebole to lead the training even though he was hardly standing. “I am a professional, there is Fiorentina. We have to get back in the standings “. He didn’t say anything to the team to keep everyone focused and a couple of days later he was on the bench at the Franchi stuffed with painkillers. After the response, which will now force him to take new treatments, he informed the managers and I knew that he then met him in Bologna. He never stopped. He prepared the match against Atalanta while continuing to preserve the team and the staff who were only informed yesterday. How many would have done the same? Is this a quitting man? Sinisa doesn’t even know what the word give up means.
The affection and your thanks
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Yesterday after the conference he received another bath of affection from fans and protagonists from the world of football, politics and entertainment. Presidents and managers, former teammates, his players, coaches. An infinity. A couple of hours after the announcement, his phone was already counting 700 messages. “I’ll read them one by one … But I won’t answer and I hope nobody gets offended. Thank everyone for my part in the newspaper … “. From today Sinisa has asked to respect his privacy: “You can talk about the coach Mihajlovic, but leave the Sinisa man to his needs”. Yesterday he returned to Rome to his family, with his wife Arianna, who is a rock, his 5 children and his beautiful granddaughter Violante born on 28 October who made him a grandfather. With a team so close there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome. The “match of a lifetime” requires extra time … We are all waiting for a golden goal from him. Come on Sinisa.
March 27, 2022 (change March 27, 2022 | 00:24)
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