HOW MIHA SHOWED ARKAN HIS TEETH: Siniša stood before a gun in the middle of Marakana to protect a friend!

The incident broke out when Mihajlović protected one of the fan leaders whom the Guard commander wanted to banish from the North stand.

The celebrated football player and coach Siniša Mihajlović, who lost his tough battle with leukemia on Friday, never hid that he was very close to Željko Ražnatović Arkan, but the public does not know that one of their first encounters was anything but friendly.

Namely, as one of the fan leaders from that time, who himself had problems with Ražnatović, reveals for Srpski telegraf, Miha then showed that he was a man with a lion’s heart, who was ready to die for his friends if necessary. His testimony explains why everyone highlighted Siniša’s iron and consistent character in their farewells.

“When Miha came to Red Star from Vojvodina, the commander of the Serbian Volunteer Guard was already everything at Marakana. He took over the stand and disciplined disobedient fan leaders who refused to comply with him, and it turned out that one of them was V. Đ. (all information known to the editorial staff), whom Miha loved and respected. He also complained to him that Željko was harassing him,” says the interlocutor.

NOT A STEP BACK

He adds that everything happened after one training session. A meeting with the fans was supposed to be held at the stadium, and Miha arrived just as Arkan was “lining up” his friend and telling him that he would no longer see him in the stands.

“Siniša stood in front of the all-powerful Ražnatović and rudely snapped at him: ‘Don’t touch this guy, he’s my friend, what gives you the right to decide who can’t come to the game? I’ve known him for years, I guarantee he’s a bigger Red Star fan than you!’ We all froze,” he recalls.

Arkan then, he says, pulled out a gun, but Miha did not flinch an inch. He continued to bombard him with the words: “Don’t touch my friend!”

“To our surprise, Željko put the gun back in the holster, smiled and said: ‘Kid, kudos to you, I love it when someone has balls! Whatever you need, I’m here for you, and don’t worry about your friend’,” the source says.

PHONE SAVED UNCLE

Mihajlović once, in a big interview for Gazetto dello Sport, told an anecdote from the time of the war, related to Arkan, when his uncle, a Croat, saved his life by sheer luck.

“All wars are horrible, but the fratricide we experienced in the former Yugoslavia is the worst thing that can happen. Friends who shot at each other, broken families. I saw my people fall, cities destroyed, everyone killed. My best friend destroyed my home. My uncle, a Croat and my mother’s brother, threatened to kill my Serbian father: ‘I will slaughter you like a pig’,” he revealed to the Italian journalist.

He added that his uncle was later found by Arkan and was supposed to be killed.

“However, then they found my phone number on his mobile, and that saved his life. I have spoken many times about the obituary for Arkan, whom I knew before the war, about my condemnation of his crimes and what he represented to the Serbs at that moment. Two generations must pass before we can assess what happened. It was devastating for everyone. What I say can also be said by a Croat and a Bosnian. We experienced the madness of history,” the legendary bomber was honest.

Many criticisms because of the obituary

Siniša once revealed in his autobiography that he first came into conflict with Ražnatović while he was still playing for Vojvodina. Namely, he insulted him after one game, not knowing who he was, but that was smoothed out later as well.

When the friendship solidified, Arkan often invited Miha to his villa.

“In those times, I visited him at least 200 times a year. We became great friends. I will never share some of the views he shared, but I will not deny my friendship with him either. And that is part of my life. When he died, I published a large obituary for my friend Željko. Not for Arkan, the commander of the ‘Tigers’. That obituary attracted a lot of criticism,” Mihajlović recalled.

He valued people with guts

Arkan came to the North stand of Marakana after the clash between Dinamo and Red Star fans on May 13, 1990, with the aim of disciplining the Red Star supporters.

As good connoisseurs of those times testify, he was sent personally by Slobodan Milošević with the aim of preventing Chetnik songs from being sung and to install his own crew in the stands, which the old guard opposed and was quickly wiped out because Arkan did not choose his means to implement his goal. He was not a man who tolerated a different opinion and behaved arrogantly, but he valued those who had the guts to tell him what they thought to his face.

“That’s why he grew fond of Miha. He liked that he had the heart to stand up to him,” he says.