A FOOTBALL manager who died from a heart attack mid-match complained about his fish meal hours before the tragedy, a player has revealed.
Mladen Zizovic, 44, fell ill on the sidelines as his new side Radnicki 1923 took on Mladost Lucani in the Serbian SuperLiga on Monday.
He collapsed just 22 minutes into the match, before being treated pitchside and quickly transported to hospital.
Despite the best efforts of emergency services, the Bosnian was pronounced dead during the journey, having suffered a heart attack.
The tragic update quickly reached the stadium, with the game being abandoned shortly after half-time as video emerged of distraught players being brought close to tears by the news.
Now one of those players, former Bosnia international Mehmed Cosic, has revealed that the coach had complained about the fish he ate hours before collapsing, and refused to finish the meal.
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Cosic told Faktor: “I didn’t fall asleep until almost 3:30am. I have no words, we are stunned.
“I’m replaying the movie in my head. He was giving me instructions, turned around and at one point I saw that he was talking to the referee by the benches.
“Then he went towards our bench, turned to the others and said ‘I’m not feeling well, I’m not feeling well.’
“He fell, you saw everything else. In the video that appeared on social networks, you can also hear screams.
“They say he complained about the fish, said he wouldn’t eat it anymore. That’s what he was talking about. There were no problems during the warm-up, the game started, everything was ok.”
The boss had only taken charge of the club on October 23rd, and had guided his new side to a league win and a cup loss in the days prior to the heartbreaking incident.
His side had gotten off to a dream start, and were already two goals up over their opponents by the time Zizovic took ill.
Cosic continued: “We continued the game, hoping that the worst wouldn’t happen and that he would be with us again.
“We said that we were playing for him and that we wanted to reward him with a victory. We weren’t focused, we were in disbelief, but we didn’t want to disappoint him.
“We believed that he would come back and be with us again, and that we would celebrate the victory.”
The side’s upcoming league clash with Cukaricki, as well as training for the players and staff, has been postponed this week to allow the club to mourn the loss.
A statement by the club read: “A man who left a deep mark wherever he worked with his knowledge, calmness and nobility.
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“Although he spent a short time in Kragujevac, he managed to gain the respect of everyone at the club, among players, associates and fans, with his energy, professionalism and human qualities.
“FK Radnički 1923 expresses its deepest condolences to the family, friends and everyone who knew Mladen.”
