Arrivederci Paolo Maldini

[Joe King]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/5/24/1243180476341/Milans-Paolo-Maldini-001.jpg

Paolo Maldini's last home Serie A game for Milan was spoiled by a late Francesco Totti goal that gave Roma a 3-2 win at the San Siro. The win secures a Europa League place for Roma and means Milan must play fourth-placed Fiorentina next week for the third automatic Champions League place.

Martin Jorgensen's last-minute equaliser for Fiorentina at Lecce means his side cannot be overtaken by Genoa, who won 3-2 at Torino, Juventus won 3-0 at Siena, putting them into second place behind champions Internazionale.

Maldini, who made his Milan debut as a 16-year-old substitute back in 1985, has won seven Italian league titles and five European Cups with the club. John Arne Riise opened the scoring for Roma just before halftime, but Massimo Ambrosini brought Milan level in the 75th. Jeremy Menez restored Roma's lead five minutes later, Ambrosini drew Milan level again, but Totti stepped up to score the winner. Ambrosini, who had kept his side in the game, was then sent off two minutes from time for arguing with referee Andrea De Marco.

Their coach Carlo Ancelotti refused to be drawn on his future, despite regularly being linked with a move to Chelsea in the summer when Guus Hiddink steps down.

"Today was Maldini's goodbye and it is not the moment to talk about my future," Ancelotti said. "We have still got to qualify for the Champions League. We had it in our hands and we are nearly there."

All Serie A matches were preceded by a minute's silence for a 19-year-old Vicenza fan who died overnight after falling six meters from a barrier during his side's 4-0 loss at Parma. The supporter was leaning over the barrier when he slipped into a gap between sections of the ageing Stadio Tardini. The match was held up for several minutes while he was taken away by ambulance. There was no suggestion anyone else was involved in the fall.

[Joe King]

http://www2.raisport.rai.it/news/sport/calcio/200112/22/3c21e5db02c21/maldini.jpg

[Leyton388]

He will be back as the manager soon IMO. He was born to do it.

[Joe King]

Posted by Amy Lawrence Friday 22 May 2009 14.23 BST Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/may/22/paolo-maldini-ac-milan-retirement)

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/5/22/1242998233765/Paolo-Maldini-after-Milan-001.jpg

The year is 1985. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev are figureheads of the cold war. At Heysel Stadium 39 spectators are killed at the European Cup final. Live Aid concerts raise £50m for victims of famine in Ethiopia. DNA is first used in a criminal case. Roger Moore steps down as James Bond. And a 16-year-old coltish defender with a famous name makes his debut for Milan at half-time in a Serie A match at Udinese.

He is the son of Cesare Maldini, a former European Cup-winning captain for the club. He trots on at half-time and glides through his overture on impressively long, strong, limbs. He looks calm, classy, eminently comfortable. Milan's fans reckon young Paolo is a chip off the old block. Some 25 seasons later, his footballing achievements beggar belief.

This weekend the 41-year-old pulls on the shirt of the club he joined at the age of 10 for the 901st time. With more than 1,000 professional matches under his belt – every single one of them in the rossonero of Milan or the azzurro of Italy – Maldini will make his farewell bow at San Siro. His career has cranked on and on, past so many milestones (they announced they would retire his No3 shirt several years ago) it is hard to know where to begin honouring the end. The club's official website has tried to sum it up with a simple tribute that has run all week long: 25 SEASONS. 900 GAMES. ALWAYS AND ONLY MILAN. GRAZIE PAOLO!

A quarter of a century in the first team of any club is a staggering enough feat. To do it at one of the world's elite teams, sweeping up five European Cup medals and seven Serie A titles along the way, sets a benchmark that looks unmatchable. To put it into 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.

There will be no special party. It is his choice. He just wants to use the last two games of the season to say goodbye, first to the people who love him at San Siro, then to the greater family of Italian football with an away game at Fiorentina. The man has always done things with irresistible, understated charm.

And that is the real legacy of Maldini. The statistics only tell part of the story. They don't tell you anything about the elegance and gallantry with which he played. All the negative stereotypes of Italian defensive arts – niggling and pinching and sly shirt tugging – were unnecessary for Maldini. Probably the best left-back ever created played purely as well as powerfully.

He has so much going for him it is hard to know if he is more adored by the men or women of Italy. But Maldini has never been big-headed. Always professional. His reaction to his landmark 1,000th game (a 0–0 draw at Parma) said it all: "These are numbers which will remain in history – too bad we did not get the three points."

So what next for Il Capitano? Milan are almost certain to find a role for him within the club if he wants it. Likewise the Italian Football Federation. But he will take a well-deserved summer holiday. "I want to pull the plug out for a little while, at least until September. Only then will I think about what to do with my future." That is unlikely to be in coaching, though, which he describes as "the job which unites all the things that I don't like about football together".

The end of the fairytale? Not necessarily. The third generation of Milan's Maldini dynasty, Paolo's 13-year-old son Christian, plays for the club's junior ranks, and over one million people have viewed a video of his youngest, Daniel, effortlessly dispossessing Clarence Seedorf on YouTube.

If Paolo gets half as much contentment watching his boys as Cesare did, it won't just be Milan who are the lucky ones. Watching the recordman throughout his extraordinary career has been a pleasure for all of us.

[lickedlollipop]

he's an absolute legend. respect for him.

[shelly]

Arrivederci capitano and grazie mille!
One of the last of the greats of Serie A... one of the last of a dying breed of footballers to whom loyalty and team pride means more than one's own ego. Love you to bits and good luck

Try and get back second next week for your capitano Rossoneri!
:cry:
PAOLO MALDINI'S TROPHIES
· 7 SCUDETTI
· 5 CHAMPIONS CUP/CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
· 3 INTERCONTINENTALI CUPS/FIFA WORLD CUP
· 5 EUROPEAN CUPS
· 5 ITALIAN SUPER CUPS
· 1 COPPA ITALIA

PAOLO MALDINI'S RECORDS
· MILAN APPEARANCES IN OFFICIAL GAMES: 900
· APPEARANCES IN SERIE A: 646
· APPEARANCES IN UEFA CLUB COMPETITIONS: 174
· APPEARANCES WITH THE AZZURRI: 126
· INTERNATIONAL TROPHIES: 13
· CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALS: 8
· QUICKEST GOAL IN A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL: 53’’, ISTANBUL 2005
· TOGETHER WITH CESARE, ONLY FATHER AND SON TO WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AS CAPTAINS, WITH THE SAME SHIRT (CESARE 1963, PAOLO 2003 AND 2007)

ALL OF PAOLO MALDINI'S DATES
20 January 1985 - Serie A debut
21 August 1985 - Coppa Italia debut
18 September 1985 - European Cups debut
12 November 1986 - Under 21 National team debut
4 January 1987 - First goal in Serie A
11 February 1987 - First goal with Under 21 National TEam
28 October 1987 - Olympic national team debut
31 March 1988 - National team debut
19 February 1989 - 100th match in Serie A
4 October 1992 - 200th match in Serie A
20 January 1993 - First goal with National team
17 February 1995 - 300th match in Serie A
29 March 1997 - Symbolic goal of Paolo Maldini with the national team: at Triese with the Azzurri coached by Cesare Maldini
25 April 1999 - 400th match in Serie A
15 March 2003 - 500th match in Serie A
22 March 2003 - 501st match in Serie A
13 May 2007 - 600th match in Serie A
16 February 2008 - 1000th official game between Milan and national team
16 May 2009 - 900th official match with Milan shirt

[shelly]

He will be back as the manager soon IMO. He was born to do it.

He does not want to manage - he's already said: management in football brings together all that is bad about the game...

[lickedlollipop]

omg, embarassing stuff from their fans.

[Joe King]

Indeed :handshake:

[Darkon]

absolute legend, one of the best in the game ever.

[Darkon]

omg, embarassing stuff from their fans.

:confused::confused:

[lickedlollipop]

http://www4.slikomat.com/09/0524/esr-1.jpg

http://www4.slikomat.com/09/0524/zko-2.jpg

http://www4.slikomat.com/09/0524/6y4-3.jpg

http://www4.slikomat.com/09/0524/mko-12.jpg

http://www4.slikomat.com/09/0524/j9k-14.jpg

http://www4.slikomat.com/09/0524/yo7-25.jpg

http://www4.slikomat.com/09/0524/doe-6.jpg

[Joe King]

Those banners from the Ultras were disgraceful

http://sports.sg.msn.com/football/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3334467

[Red_Polo]

That's fucking terrible :sigh:

Maldini :respect:

[Neil Young]

What's the story behind the banners and animosity?

[Joe King]

Gabriele Marcotti, European Football Correspondent [The Times] (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/gabriele_marcotti/article6355518.ece)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00258/pa385_258388a.jpg

Paolo Maldini’s last match at the San Siro yesterday was marred by a portion of Ultras, the hardcore element of AC Milan’s supporters, who accused him of a “lack of respect”.

Maldini will retire at the end of the season, a few months shy of his 41st birthday, after a 22-year career in which he made 901 appearances for the club, while winning seven Serie A titles, five European Cups, one Italian Cup, five Uefa Super Cups and three Club World Cups.

At international level, he was capped 126 times for Italy, helping them to third place at the 1988 European Championship and the 1990 World Cup, as well as runners-up finishes at the 1994 World Cup and Euro 2000.

Yesterday’s match against Roma, which Milan lost 3-2, was supposed to have been a send-off for the man who has captained the club since the retirement of Franco Baresi in 1997. Yet, after the match, with most of the ground applauding Maldini, a banner was unfurled in the Curva Sud, home to most of Milan’s Ultras, which read: “Thank you, Skipper. On the pitch you were an infinite champion, but you failed to show respect towards those who made you rich.”

Shortly thereafter, as Maldini completed his lap of honour to thank the supporters, the Ultras unfurled another banner, honouring Baresi, while chanting: “There’s only one captain.”

Sources among the Ultras revealed that while they were happy to honour Maldini as a player, they felt he had “disrespected” the supporters by toeing the club line on too many issues.

Maldini has occasionally criticised the Ultras when they failed to back some of his teammates and has defended the transfer policy of Silvio Berlusconi, the Milan owner, who was also abused yesterday.

Maldini, who was due to address the crowd, appeared upset. He limited himself to these words: “I’m proud not to be one of them.”

Some players have been accused of currying favour with the hardcore supporters. In the same match, the Ultras displayed a banner devoted to Andriy Shevchenko, who is on loan from Chelsea and is set to return to Stamford Bridge after a season in which he failed to score in 18 appearances, 16 of them as a substitute. That banner simply read, “Sheva must stay”.

Carlo Ancelotti, the Milan coach, who received a mixed verdict from the Ultras – “Thank you and good luck, but we won’t forgot that you also made many mistakes” – attempted to play down their outburst. “They’re irrelevant,” he said. “A few poisonous drops in an ocean of love for Maldini.”

[Neil Young]

Thanks. :handshake:

[red g]

Captain Maldini, who criticised fans earlier this year when telling them to get behind the team during their struggles, was stung by some of the banners in the stands.

One in the south stand read: "Thanks captain: on the pitch you have been an infinite champion but you have lacked the respect of those that have made you rich".

Another one read: "For your 25-year glorious career our deepest thanks from those you defined as mercenaries".

That banner was accompanied by a big jersey of Franco Baresi, who Maldini replaced as captain, and with chants of "There's only one captain".

Maldini said of the fans who hung the banners: "I am proud not to be one of them."

AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was equally disenchanted by what happened.

"It was only a minor section of the crowd," he said. "But they could have avoided that in what was supposed to be a special day for Paolo."

[Tee]

Disgraceful behaviour by so called fans to arguably the greatest professional footballer to have graced the game.

Paolo Maldini, I salute you. :respect:

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200705/r145706_510646.jpg

[greenbloodred]

An all-time great,right up there with the best ever players. Good luck to him :respect:

[Bari]

There won't be a 'New Maldini', I'll stick by that, he was one of a kind.

[Tee]

There won't be a 'New Maldini', I'll stick by that, he was one of a kind.

His son is in the youth team at Milan. I think the Maldini dynasty will continue. :handshake:

[Leyton388]

One of the greats and a true role model to all young players out there. Italian fans are a disgrace to the game. Such a shame.

[Bari]

His son is in the youth team at Milan. I think the Maldini dynasty will continue. :handshake:

He's a dynasty upon himself, he needs no other.

I doubt his son or any other player or defender will have as distinguished career as him.

Shame the Italian Manager during world cup 2006 did not pick him for the squad. He may have ended up winning everything that their is.

[Exiled_red]

I can't believe some so called fans would treat a legend who has given his all for them like that :rash:

[TheElephantMan]

If it was just a minor section of the crowd, then why didn't the majority do something about it?

[Bari]

If it was just a minor section of the crowd, then why didn't the majority do something about it?

I'm of the same opinion. However some would say the ultra's run football in italy.

[TheElephantMan]

I'm of the same opinion. However some would say the ultra's ruin football in italy.

So it seems. :shake:

[ELNINO 9]

what a servant to one club though. hopefully steven gerrard goes on to play that long.!!!!!!

[Darkon]

His son is in the youth team at Milan. I think the Maldini dynasty will continue. :handshake:

He's a dynasty upon himself, he needs no other.

I doubt his son or any other player or defender will have as distinguished career as him.

Shame the Italian Manager during world cup 2006 did not pick him for the squad. He may have ended up winning everything that their is.

what a servant to one club though. hopefully steven gerrard goes on to play that long.!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXpPD3FpxIg

He's on his way!!

[lickedlollipop]

never saw something like that. but there are always bunch of cunts which are fucked up in their heads.

anyway, that stuff with his son is a class. hehe

[Liverpel]

You can see some of his final moments heree:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFzG6qASLoE

[shelly]

Don't know if paolo would play next week, but hope he gets a better reception at Fiorentina than with his own idiotic ultra fans. I bet Franco Baresi was embarrassed by them...
Poor capitano... doesn't loyalty and class and integrity count for anything anymore?

[lickedlollipop]

it does. but not in Italy.