A tribute to the Greatest Rossonero Ever

[g.smiley]

[maro]

[SuperPippo9]

[p_maldini_3]

[RomaShield27]

Paolo Maldini bows out at Milan with jeers in his ears
– Monday 25 May 2009 14.42 BST, By Paolo Bandini

Five European Cups, seven Scudetti, three intercontinental titles, five European Super Cups, and a Coppa Italia. Over the course of 25 years (30 if you include his apprenticeship), Paolo Maldini has helped Milan win everything there is to win. And then to do it all over again. Few have drawn such widespread admiration from team-mates and opponents alike. "Quite simply the best there is," was the description used by the Juventus striker Alessandro The Waterboy this week. Last month Sir tender Alex Ferguson named the defender as his "favourite" player on any team that he had managed against.

Sadly it seems that the only place such opinions are not shared is on San Siro's own curva sud. Yesterday Maldini made his 900th appearance for Milan, leading them out against Roma in his last match at San Siro and perhaps also his last anywhere. At the outset he was applauded by a capacity crowd, while Roma's players emerged from the tunnel in shirts carrying the slogan "Thanks Paolo, great captain". But by the end the voices of dissent had begun to make themselves heard.

"Thanks captain. On the pitch you were an undying champion but you had no respect for those who made you rich," read one of the banners prepared by Ultras. "For your 25 years of glorious service you have the thanks of those who you called mercenaries and misers," read another. If the message was not necessarily scathing, it was certainly pointed. Next came a giant Milan shirt bearing the number six and accompanied by the words "There is only one captain, [Franco] Baresi".

What was supposed to be a day of festivity quickly soured. Milan were beaten 3-2, and could yet lose third place to next weekend's opponents Fiorentina, but it was not for the result that Maldini left the pitch with a face like thunder. "I am proud to be nothing like them," he said of the supporters who had goaded him – a small minority, it must be said, but enough to make themselves heard – as he departed. Exactly 20 years earlier, on 24 May 1989, many of those same fans would have been praising Maldini as he collected his first European Cup winners' medal after a 4-0 trouncing of Steaua Bucharest.

Gazzetta dello Sport described the scene as surreal but to those unfamiliar with the finer points of Milan's recent history, it might even have seemed an outright shocking one. Maldini, after all, is everything a supporter could wish for – the longest-serving one-club man in history, talented but also a grafter and a man who only ever appears in the newspapers for the right reasons. Just about the only things known about his private life is that he is married to his sweetheart from his teenage years, Adriana Fossa, and that he owns over 100 pairs of jeans.

Nor does Maldini carry around any great sense of self-importance. Many commentators and pundits have lamented the fact that he never won a Ballon D'or, but the player himself has always shrugged and acknowledged that such awards usually go to forwards. His reaction to being named player of the year by World Soccer magazine in 1996 was one of faint bewilderment. Indeed, he actually named Baresi, Milan's captain at the time, in his acceptance speech as the one defender who truly did deserve such an accolade.

But the one thing that Maldini has never done is kowtow to fan opinion, and it is for this alone that a more selfish element resent him. When Milan supporters caused a game between the Rossoneri and Parma to be suspended for more than five minutes by throwing oranges and other objects on to the field during their miserable 1997–98 season, Maldini was publicly critical of their behaviour. After Milan won the league the following year, he retired quickly to the dressing room to celebrate with Alessandro Costacurta instead of staying out to thank the fans.

That was not the only occasion on which he refused to condone supporter protests, but the fact that such instances are remembered at all reflects only on the pettiness of such fans. Maldini has only ever been interested in winning, and if anything his objection to such actions is a reflection of his belief that they do nothing to help his team do exactly that.

Maldini wasn't the only one to come under attack at San Siro, however, and the fact that he did at all was undoubtedly also an indicator of the growing frustration among supporters about the general direction in which the club is currently moving. A far greater percentage of the critical banners on display at San Siro were aimed at Silvio Berlusconi rather than Maldini, as the club's owner was criticised for wasting his money on "cons and trading cards". It is no secret that Milan are in significant debt, and the fear that they will sell Kakà to Real Madrid this summer is palpable.

Such a departure would doubtless be a disaster for a side that have leaned heavily on the Brazilian this season. But not nearly as sad as seeing one of the greatest defenders of all-time leave the club he dedicated his entire career to with taunts and whistles in his ears.

[RomaShield27]

Guardiola: «Dedicata all'Italia e a Maldini»
www.CorriereDelloSport.it

Il tecnico blaugrana: «Non si deve preoccupare, ha l'ammirazione di tutta Europa. Un piacere conquistare la Coppa a Roma»

ROMA, 27 maggio - «Dedico questa Champions al calcio italiano e a Paolo Maldini, che non si preoccupi perchè ha l'ammirazione di tutta l'Europa». È il primo pensiero del tecnico del Barcellona, Pep Guardiola, dopo aver vinto la Champions League battendo il Manchester United 2-0 nella finale di Roma. «La gioia è grande - ha aggiunto Guardiola ai microfoni di Rai Sport - è stato un piacere vincerla a Roma, un abbraccio a tutti gli italiani».

«Maldini è un esempio per tutti noi, mi auguro che se ci ripensa può venire al Barcellona da noi». Ai microfoni di Sky Guardiola torna sulla dedica fatta subito dopo il fischio finale all'Olimpico al capitano del Milan che nel giorno della sua ultima partita a San Siro è stato contestato da una parte dei tifosi rossoneri. «Abbiamo fatto una buona gara - aggiunge Guardiola parlando della partita vinta 2-0 contro il Manchester - sono molto felice. Ora ne abbiamo tre e ci stiamo avvicinando alle altre grandissime squadre».

PUYOL - «È un orgoglio. Abbiamo lavorato tantissimo per conseguire questi tre titoli ed è un sogno che si realizza. È stata una stagione perfetta». Lo ha detto Carles Puyol a Sky, il capitano del Barcellona campione d'Europa.

[marco]

only fitting that a nice gesture like that would come from a romanista.

[RomaShield27]

Maldini the master takes his final bow
Thu May 28, 2009 10:30am BST, By Mark Meadows

– Paolo Maldini made his AC Milan debut well before the Berlin Wall came down, when tight shorts were all the rage and the Champions League format was simply a dream. Some 24 years since that January day in 1985 against Udinese, Maldini will finally hang up his boots in the season-ender at Fiorentina on Sunday having broken almost every appearance record available.

However, the 40-year-old's haul of 126 Italy caps, seven Italian titles and five European Cups is not just because he has been around so long. It is also because he was one of the best.

"I am proud of how people see me," he said this week. "I have given everything for the Rossoneri shirt."

A fearless yet stylish defender, who switched effortlessly between left back and central defence, Maldini would walk into most people's greatest ever World Select XI. Even his last ditch tackles were elegant while he rarely looked harried and often left attackers looking foolish.

To stay at one club all his life is also a tremendous achievement which few peers have managed. His father Cesare enrolled Paolo into Milan's youth ranks and from that point on he was never leaving. His bond is so strong with Milan that his son Christian is now following his father's footsteps in the academy.

Despite all the trophies and fans, including many female admirers, Maldini will harbour some regrets. He quit the Italy team in 2002 after a World Cup second round defeat to South Korea where he had been outjumped by Ahn Jung-hwan for the hosts' extra-time winner.

He never won a trophy with Italy but felt it was the right time to retire from international football as the Azzurri's most capped player. Four years later, though, he had to watch on as his former team mates lifted the World Cup against the odds. Maldini would have quit last season had Milan won back-to-back European Cups. He yearned to finish his career with a ninth final and the chance of a sixth winners' medal.

Defeat by Arsenal in the Champions League first knockout round in March 2008 robbed him of that dream with Milan also failing to qualify for the 2009 competition after finishing a poor fifth in Serie A. His record of eight finals will have to be shared with Real Madrid's Francisco Gento.

A stuttering finish in the league this term, with Milan battling Fiorentina for the final automatic Champions League spot, is not how he would have liked to bow out.

Some ultra fans also unveiled banners critical of him at his San Siro farewell in the defeat against AS Roma last Sunday. Despite this and his wish not to immediately enter management, it seems certain Maldini will still be at Milan in some role for many more years to come.

"Nothing has been sorted. I need a holiday," he said. (Editing by John O'Brien; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

[San Paolo]

[San Paolo]

[stefano]