Sven-Goran Eriksson, one of the most successful Lazio managers of all time, revealed that he has cancer and not long to live.
Eriksson was manager at Lazio from 1997 to 2000 during which Lazio won a Scudetto, 2 Coppa Italia's, 2 Italian Supercups, a European Super Cup and a European Cup Winners Cup.
Speaking to the BBC World Service’s Sporting Witness program he said “I thought I was fully healthy, but suddenly I got small strokes so I fell. My children took me to the hospital and after one day of examination, they told me that I got five small strokes, but that is OK, no problem, you will recover 100% from that but worse is you have cancer which we can’t operate. We will give you treatment, medicine, to try and live as long as possible. When you get a message like that I think you appreciate every day, you are happy when you wake up in the morning and you feel OK, so that’s what I’m doing”.
At Lazio he is adored. He is the hero of the second Scudetto in 2000. When Lazio were nine points behind Juventus, he was one of the few who still believed the dream was possible, and he was right. The Lazio faithful loved his aplomb, elegance, optimism and calm character. If nowadays José Mourinho in many ways mirrors the “Roma way”, Eriksson represented the “Lazio style” well. In his years at Lazio he had the merit, with his balance and flexibility, to have managed to get great players with strong personalities to all play for the same cause and how they played, a wonderful team to watch. The only possible criticism could be that they were so good they could have won more but what he did win will always make him a legend for life at Lazio.
To the Swedish Radio he added: “You have to trick your brain. I could go around thinking about that all the time and sit at home and be miserable and think I’m unlucky and so on. It’s easy to end up in that position. But no, see the positive sides of things and don’t bury yourself in setbacks, because this is the biggest setback of them all of course”.
“I know that in the best case it’s about a year, in the worst case even less. Or in the best case I suppose even longer. I don’t think the doctors I have can be totally sure; they can’t put a day on it”.
He came back to watch a Lazio game after 23 years on March 19, 2023, for the derby and was welcomed as a long lost hero by the Curva Nord and the whole stadium. "Grazie di tutto Svennis".
Forza Mister.
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