The fact a centre-back scored an impressive 70 goals throughout his career speaks for itself. And if we comprehend that most of those goals came from free-kicks, we ought to praise Sinisa Mihajlovic for his rare, brilliant skill. The current Bologna coach was one of the best free-kick takers during the ’90s, netting for Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter.But his life was not just accolades, glory and happiness.Born and raised in the small town of Borovo in Yugoslavia, of Serb father and Croatian mother, Mihajlovic suffered a lot once the dreadful civil war tore Yugoslavia apart.##EDITORS_CHOICE##His hometown was in the middle of horrible clashes between Serbs and Croats, with his family standing in between in a most complicated situation – they didn’t want to pick sides, but it couldn’t save them from the horrors of war.Sinisa Mihajlovic back in 1991 (©Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)Since Sinisa stared, at that moment, for the Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade, during their glorious European Cup campaign, his cousins felt he did pick a side and simply couldn’t forgive him nor his parents.(2.55) TURKEY (3.20) NORWAY (3.10)In a conversation Mihajlovic today had in Italy, at Sports Festival in Trento, he revealed how dangerous were those days in 1991 for him.”Wars destroy families. The war in Yugoslavia destroyed many families. A Croatian cousin wanted to throw a grenade at my house while my father watched a Red Star match on television. The only reason he changed his mind was that his brother, my mother’s relative, was at home at the time with my parents.” Mihajlovic explained.
