Living legend Paulo Maldini celebrated his 1000 professional appearance for AC Milan as a substitute against Parma on February 16th. It has only been 23 years since his debut as a 16 year old against Udinese in the Serie A.
Son of Cesare Maldini who captained Ac Milan to their first European Cup in 1963 all Paolo has accomplished in his career is 5 European Cups, 7 Serie A Titles, a record 126 caps for Italy including captaining his side on 64 occasions and those 1000 appearances for AC Milan. Oh yeah those 23 years at Milan that's a record for a one-club man in football.
Yes even legends have disappointing days losing in the 94 World Cup Final to Brazil and
later to France in the European Championships in 2000 hurt the big fella. However he admits the harshest day was the 2005 European Cup Final when Milan was 3-0 up including a Maldini goal after only 51 seconds at half-time eventually losing on penalty kick's to Liverpool.
Maldini is a model pro and citizen. He has conducted himself on and off the pitch with rarely seen class and character and truly deserves the legend title. Now with his 12 year old son training with the Milan youth team it appears that AC Milan fans have a third-generation of the Maldini family in the back row to look forward to.
No comments:
Post a Comment