Mihajlovic confirms battle with leukaemia: 'I will face it, chest puffed out'
In the press conference which was scheduled to take place today, Mihajlovic confirmed what his 'serious illness' was.
He said: "When I got the news, it was a real blow. I sat there for days crying, your life passes by your eyes.
"These are not tears of fear. I respect the illness, I will face it, with chest puffed out, looking it in the eyes, the way I always have done.
"I cannot wait to go to hospital and start the fight. It is aggressive, but it is beatable. I explained that to my players too, we had a conference call with them and as is natural, I had some tears.
"I explained to them we have to attack and go to win. If we sit back and try to defend, we'll get knocked down straight away. I have to use my tactics in this battle and I am sure, without any doubts, that I will win this battle.
"I'll win it for my family, for my children, for all those who love me."
He continued: "I bet all of you thought I was one of the last people who could get ill. I train, I am big, strong, I had tests on February 28 and everything was normal.
"I trained every day until May, travelled everywhere, played football and paddleboard, I felt no tiredness, no pain. It was normal.
"My father died of cancer, so I always get tested regularly. If we hadn't performed these tests, I wouldn't have shown any symptoms for a year.
"None of us must think we are indestructible. All of us think it won't happen to me, but when it does, that's a shocking blow. Your only hope then is to anticipate, because if you discover it after two months or after a year, that makes a big difference.