Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic has recovered fully from COVID-19 he contracted almost three weeks ago and the 51-year-old who had leukemia a year ago said coronavirus is nothing compared to leukemia.
The former Inter Milan manager became a big issue of discussion on the social media space of his home country Serbian and more prominently in Italy after the news broke that he contracted the deadly virus when he took his family on vacation to Sardinia. His critics stressed that he should have been more careful especially for the fact that he has an underlying health condition.
However, the Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic told La Gazzetta Dello Sport that COVID-19 is like a cold drink compared to the pain he felt when he was battling leukemia.
Sinisa Mihajlovic said: “After what I experienced from July to January last year, six months of the daily battle against leukemia, in and out of the hospital for three rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, COVID was like a cool drink of water.
“I was totally asymptomatic, so if I hadn’t had the test, I wouldn’t even have noticed. That doesn’t mean the illness doesn’t exist, nor is it something akin to the flu, and those who deny the virus is deadly are just ignoring reality and lacking respect towards those who died, suffered, and lost loved ones.
“I don’t think I felt anxious, more irritated that I was forced to stay away again while my team was in pre-season training. There has been so much said about my condition, but very few people know what really happened and there’s a lot of fake news going around.
“My tests have all been perfect, I was not told to take any precautions other than a normal person, I feel in great shape and have gone back to running 10km per day, training, doing weights. I live normally, enjoy life in every moment, and that is what I intend to keep doing.”
Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic slammed his Italian critics
After almost three weeks of battling COVID-19, Sinisa Mihajlovic came out from isolation to meet his name everywhere on the social media space in Italy. The Serbian football tactician who spent the best of his football career in Italy stressed that Italians hardly forgive people who are successful.
The Bologna coach went on to explain to his critics why he chose to travel to Sardinia after the 2019-2020 season. He also explained how he tried all he could to ensure that he didn’t contract the virus when he got to the Italian island.
“I don’t know if my full recovery annoys people, or maybe it’s easier to feel empathy for someone who is in a hospital bed or looks fragile,” he said.
“Enzo Ferrari said Italians will forgive you everything except for success. I will add happiness to that list, because there’s a lot of nastiness around, and not just in Italy, but everywhere. They’re called haters on social media, although I’d have a different word…
“I’ve had a home in Sardinia for 20 years and I go there every post-season. At that time, the island was COVID-free, not even one case. I took all the precautions I had to, wearing a mask when entering bars, supermarkets, or restaurants.
“I played padel tennis with Dario Marcolin several times, yet he is negative for COVID. All this was allowed. You’ll never know when or how you contracted COVID, or why some people get it and others don’t. I was with my wife, yet she is negative and I am positive. One of my kids is positive, the others negative.
“I am no longer immune-suppressed, I have recovered from leukemia. I was ill, that doesn’t mean I’ll be ill for the rest of my life. I wasn’t the one who ordered the lockdown measures to be lifted and allowed people to go on vacation. I was just unlucky.”
Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic is married to Italian former TV presenter Arianna Rapaccioni who has five children for him. He is regarded as one of the best free-kick takers of all time.
After playing for Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio, and Internazionale, he retired from professional football in 2006. Six years later, the tactician who holds an Italian passport became the national team coach of Serbia for a year before he left to become the manager of Sampdoria. He has been the manager of Bologna since 2019.
