Rant about football

A couple of Maldinis

Paolo Cesare Maldini, born June 26th, 1968, otherwise known as seven time Italian Serie A, five time Champions League, five time Super Cup and one time World Club Cup winning Italian footballer, also often considered to be one of the greatest defenders to have ever played the game. This weekend the 41-year-old pulled on the shirt of the club he joined at the age of 10 for the 901st time. Having played more than 1,000 professional matches, every single one of them either in the rossonero of Milan or the azzurro of Italy, Maldini has made his farewell bow. The son of Cesare Maldini, he is the most-selected player in the history of the Milan Club, the Italian Serie A league and the Italian national team, with 126 caps.

‘Alf’ by Alison Moyet – UK#1 when Maldini made his debut

January 20th, 1985: Band Aid’s ‘Do The Know It’s Christmas?’ becomes the best selling British single of all time, President Reagan is inaugurated for his second term in the White House and Maldini made his league debut, at the age of sixteen, against Udinese as a halftime substitution for the injured Sergio Battistini. It would be his only league appearance of the campaign, but he was in the starting eleven the following season.

Milan 2-0 Inter: Serie A – 24th April, 1988

The 1987–88 Scudetto marked Maldini’s first major trophy, and the first of seven league titles, with the club. He was also part of Milan’s undefeated “Dream Team” from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. After several different financial troubles had caused bad times and a lack of success, AC Milan was bought on February 20, 1986 by Silvio Berlusconi, a Milanese enterpreneur. Berlusconi brought in a rising coach, Arrigo Sacchi, and three Dutch players, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, to return the team to glory. He also signed some Italian stars Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti and Giovanni Galli.

The 1989 European Cup Final starting lineup. How good is that team?

Sacchi and Maldini won the 1987-88 scudetto after a great recovery over Diego Maradona’s S.S.C. Napoli. In 1988-1989, AC Milan won their third European Cup, defeating Steaua Bucuresti 4-0 in the final, and their second Intercontinental cup against National de Medellin (1-0). The team repeated their triumph the following season, against Benfica (1-0), and earned a second Intercontinental Cup in a row and third overall beating Olimpia Asunción in 1990. With Sacchi leaving Milan to coach the Italy national football team, Fabio Capello was hired and under him, the Rossoneri came to be known as Gli Invicibili (The Invincibles) or the Dream Team. With an unprecedented 58-match run with no defeats the Invincibili team had the likes of Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Maldini commanding one of the best defences in history, with Marcel Desailly and Roberto Donadoni in midfield and Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, and Daniele Massaro playing in attack.

Milan 4-0 Barcelona: Champions League Final, Athens, 1994

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On top of the three consecutive scudetti (from 1992 to 1994, including the feat of not losing a single match in the 1991/1992 season), Maldini and AC Milan reached the Champions League final for three consecutive years. In addition to winning his third Champions League and reaching the 1994 FIFA World Cup final, Maldini became the first defender ever to win World Soccer magazine’s annual World Player of the Year Award. During his acceptance speech, Maldini called his milestone,

‘a particular matter of pride because defenders generally receive so much less attention from fans and the media than goal scorers. We are more in the engine room rather than taking the glory.’

He then singled out Milan captain Franco Baresi as a player who ‘really [deserved] to receive the sort of award I have received.’

Maldini played his 600th Serie A match on May 13th, 2007, in a 1–1 draw at Catania. On September 25th, 2005, Maldini broke Dino Zoff’s Serie A appearance record after playing his 571st league match against Treviso; seven days earlier, he had played his 800th game in all competitions for Milan. On February 16th, 2008, Maldini reached 1,000 senior games with Milan and Italy when he came on as a sub against Parma.

Maldini has participated in eight UEFA Champions League finals during the course of his career, which is more than any other active player, and equals the record held by Francisco Gento. Maldini has lifted the trophy five times, the latest coming in Milan’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool in 2007.

Milan 2-1 Liverpool: Champions League Final, Athens, 2007

He labeled the 2005 final, which Milan lost on penalties to Liverpool in extra time after blowing a 3–0 lead, the worst moment of his career, even though he had scored the fastest-ever goal in a European Cup final just 51 seconds into the match, in the process also becoming the oldest player ever to score in a final.

Maldini’s last match at the San Siro

Maldini announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2007-08 season, saying that he would do so with no regrets. However, following Milan’s elimination from the Champions League by Arsenal in March, Maldini stated that he would possibly delay his retirement for at least a further year. On April 18th, Maldini announced that he will be finally retiring at the end of the 2008–09 season.

‘These are numbers which will remain in history – too bad we did not get the three points.’

On May 17th, in the Friuli stadium Maldini played his 900th official match for Milan in a league game against Udinese. Maldini’s last match at the San Siro was on May 24th, in a game they lost 3-2 against Roma. His last appearance for Milan, and his last game as an active player is due next weekend, on May 31st, 2009, in the last match of the season, against Fiorentina. To put it into a bit of perspective, 35-year-old Ryan Giggs would have to play on for Manchester United for another seven years to equal Maldini’s length of service. Real Madrid’s Raúl, who turns 32 in the summer, will need to continue for another 10 years. This is a man who has won the European Cup in three different decades.

Daniel Maldini tackles Clarence Seedorf

Milan plan to retire his number 3 shirt, but it will be bequeathed to one of his sons if one makes the club’s senior side. His eldest son, Christian, currently plays for the Milan youth squad.