Italy coach Roberto Mancini has paid tribute to Sinisa Mihajlovic after his passing.

The pair played together for Sampdoria and Lazio.

Mancini told TMW: “A day I never wanted to live. Goodbye Sinisa, my friend. You fought like a lion, you will always stay by my side. This is a day I never wanted to live, because I lost a friend with whom I shared almost 30 years of my life, on and off the pitch.

“It is not fair that such an atrocious disease took away a 53-year-old guy who fought until the last moment like a lion, as he was used to doing on the pitch.

“And that is exactly how Sinisa will forever remain by my side, even if he is gone, as he did in Genoa, Rome and Milan and later even when we took different paths."