With what Sinisa Mihailovic did and said from time to time, many agreed with him, others disagreed, but what is certain is that he did not go unnoticed due to his explosive character and refusal to follow the path of diplomacy.

As his death at the age of just 53 was a blow to the stomach of the footballing world, many will remember him and his fiery tirades, with the famous Serbian player and coach uttering some that have made history.

Read some of his signature phrases:

For the disease:

• “We have to attack them from high up and score. I have to use the same tactics that I love to play football. I will win the fight against leukaemia. For everyone who loves me. For me.”
• “I discovered a part of me that I didn’t know. I live everything more intensively. I’m enjoying every moment and I’ve learned to count to 6-7 before I get mad, I know I can get to 8. Don’t ask me to come by 10, it won’t happen to me.”
• “I don’t think I’m a hero, I’m a person with positives and negatives. I’ve dealt with this as I know, but everyone can deal with it however they want. No one should be ashamed of being sick and crying.”

For the war:

• “Before the war I had to walk 1.4 km to go to my parents’, but without bridges we had to walk about 80 km. For months people have suffered unjustly. Bombs on hospitals, schools, civilians: everything was destroyed and made no difference to the Americans.”
• “I know about the war crimes attributed to Milosevic, but the moment Serbia is attacked, I will defend my people and whoever represents them.”

• “Kosovo is Serbia. Period. You can’t drive the Serbs out of their homes. Independence isn’t for me.”

For soccer:

• “I can’t talk about football with Mourinho because he’s never played it and he can’t understand it.”
• “If I hadn’t dabbled in football, I would have been a thief, a boxer, no good.”
• “Either someone has balls or they don’t. But you have to listen to the coach. I’m sure if I tell my people to fall off the roof, they will do it first and then ask me why.” .”
• “As Bujadin Boskov says: “A stadium without people is like a woman without breasts”.

For the family:

• “When they talk about dreams, I don’t think about winning the Champions League or a league. Mine is impossible: being able to hug my father (he had died of lung cancer at the age of 69).

• “When I first saw my wife, I looked at her and thought: If I had children with her, who knows how beautiful they would be… Five children were born, one more beautiful than the others.”
• “I believe that women are stronger: my wife has given birth to five children and she runs the household. She’s a woman with balls, maybe more than me. And it’s not easy.”