Lovely Left Footers #6: Sinisa Mihajlovic

Following on in our ever popular ‘Lovely Left Footers’ series, Salim Said of A Water Carrier makes his LLF debut with a tribute to the free kick master, Siniša Mihajlovi?. You can find more of Salim’s work on his excellent aforementioned blog, or follow him on twitter @AWaterCarrier.

The left foot has almost mythological attributes, thanks to the rarity of left-footers in the history of football, the lack of lefties in the history of other sports and the lack of lefties in society in general. According to Musa Okwongwa in A Cultured Left Foot, Diego Maradona, a left-footer himself, has portrayed this point with a story about Roberto Rivelino, one of the stars of the 1970 Brazil World Cup triumph:

‘Rivelino was in Brazil’s concentracion in Mexico ’70. Doing nothing, because those guys didn’t need to do anything to play. And so there he was, sitting around with Gerson and Tostao…Then Pele shows up. And they thought: This f*cker, what can we say to him? He does everything right, the son of a b*tch. So Rivelino, who always had an answer for everything, thought of what to say. He looked Pele straight in the eyes, he was already the best in the world, and said: ‘Tell me the truth, you would have liked to be left-footed, right?’

Unfortunately (or fortunately, going by what Pele regularly says in the press), Pele’s response to the Wind-Up Merchant attempt wasn’t recorded by El Diego. Rivelino knew as a left-footer he was a rare commodity, who’d be readily associated with a certain grace, who’d be part of an exclusive group of players that is romanticised on sites like Lovely Left Foot.

Rivelino, Pele and the Brazil 1970 team aside, there was a player who came from a country obsessed with Brazil – the former Yugoslavia, so obsessed that Red Star Belgrade’s former ground was known as the Marakana – who possessed the arguably the best left-foot in modern football and who I will be romanticising on Lovely Left Foot: Siniša Mihajlovi?.

To call his foot merely “lovely” would be an insult to the man. Then again, there aren’t many words which would fittingly describe his left foot so we will stick with “lovely.” During an international get-together with Yugoslavia, a team-mate offered to buy the whole squad dinner if Mihajlovi? could hit the crossbar from the halfway line with two shots out of three attempts, he didn’t need the third attempt.

Born in Eastern Croatia to parents who identified themselves as Yugoslavs, Mihajlovi? kicked-off his career at his hometown club NK Borovo. After two years, he moved to FK Vojvodina winning the Yugoslav First Division in his debut season. He soon caught the eye of Red Star Belgrade and it was there where he announced his name to a global audience. Mihajlovi? was brought in to add some robustness to a youthful Red Star Belgrade side including Dejan Savicevic (who also possessed a genius of a left), Robert Prosinecki, Vladimir Jugovic and Darko Pancev. Mihajlovi? patrolled the left-wing for a counter-attacking Red Star, often loitering somewhere around a left-midfielder and a left-back.

Mihajlovic in Red Star Belgrade colours

There are games which define many great players or bring them to attention of the football world and Mihaijlovic’s moments and game came in the second leg of Red Star Belgrade’s 1991 European Cup semi-final second-leg versus Bayern Munich.

It was the 24th minute when Savicevic was fouled 30 yards out. Prosinecki, who had taken a free-kick from similar territory a few minutes earlier was standing near, but from that range there was only one player who was going to take it. Prosinecki stepped aside. Mihajlovi? stepped up and struck a clean shot at goal, which seemed to be heading narrowly wide before it took a slight nick off the Bayern wall and head into the bottom corner. The Makarana erupted. Mihajlovi? had announced himself to the world. He set off on an Adebayor-esque run to the other end of the Marakana, arms aloft with a childish glee across his face.

Bayern equalised and took the lead – matching Red Star’s away goals – and Red Star needed a moment of brilliance or luck once again to ensure their passage into the final. This moment came in the form of a powerful surge through the core of Bayern’s centre by Jugovic. He was stopped by a half-challenge and the ball kindly broke to Prosinecki who pulled the ball back to Mihajlovi?. His cross aiming into the box was mishit, the Bayern defender, Klaus Augenthaler, miscued the clearance which made the ball loop embarrassingly over the keeper who had misjudged the flight of the ball. Red Star were through to the final. Mihajlovi? was named Man of the Match. Red Star Belgrade went on to beat Olympique Marseilles in the final and lifted the European Cup.

Nicknamed ‘Barbika’ for his fluffy Barbie-Doll-esque hairstyle, Mihajlovi?’s well-crafted left foot was snapped up a year later for Roma by Sven Goran Eriksson in 1992. The Swede, who rated Mihajlovi?’s left foot alongside Beckham’s right, would then treat him like his glasses – taking him wherever he went. He took him from Roma to Sampdoria and from there to Lazio. During this time Mihajlovi? was converted from a midfielder into a central defender where he played until his retirement from his playing days at Inter. His most successful season was the 1999/2000 season as Lazio won the Scudetto and Coppa Italia double, Mihajlovi? contributing with 13 goals in 45 games.

Deadly left foot

Throughout the nineties it was common knowledge that if you wanted to watch quality football you’d tune into Channel 4’s now much nostalgia-ridden coverage of Italian football. It was during the stints at Roma, Sampdoria and Lazio that British audiences –through the medium of Channel 4’s Football Italia show – became accustomed to Mihajlovi? pure, driven left footed free-kicks regularly leaving the Gianluca Pagliucas, Angelo Peruzzis and Francesco Antoniolis of Serie A faceless. Indeed, Mihajlovi? scored 27 goals from free-kicks in Serie A. None of the great players who have graced Calcio – not Maradona, not Platini, not Del Piero – have scored more free-kicks. To give a backhander to each of those players, Mihajlovi? managed to score a hat-trick of free-kicks in a match against Sampdoria in 1998. Has any player in the top European leagues ever been able to replicate that feat? Almost certainly not, and the fact that Serie A at the time was the strongest league in Europe makes it even more impressive a feat.

Anyone who has followed his career knows Mihajlovi? has been involved in a series of controversial incidents, making him the proverbial marmite-esque, love-him-or-hate-him character. These incidents prompted The Guardian to write a piece asking if he is the nastiest man in football. In his brilliant Behind The Curtain book, Jonathan Wilson analyses Mihajlovic’s mentality and argues that he, despite having some pretty significant personality flaws, merely defends himself when he is attacked and that the haters need to back off. Of course, there is no defence for Mihajlovi?’s antics but amidst all the controversy many people forget what a good player he was.

I put what Rivelino asked Pele to you: Tell me the truth, you’d like to be left-footed, right? Many would like to be left-footed. But not many will have a left-foot as lovely as Siniša Mihajlovi?’s – a foot I love so much that each year I consider sending it a Valentines’ card. I hope you consider doing it, too.