Paolo
Maldini is one of football’s all-time greats. During a glittering
career with AC Milan, his only club, he made 902 appearances and won 26
major honors, including five European Cups. He was also capped 126
times by Italy.
Recently he Maldini invited Sportsmail’s Jamie
Carragher to his Milan home for a rare interview. He does not have
trophies on show anywhere in his house and the only pictures are of his
family.
His
passion for football, however, is absolutely clear and the conversation
between Maldini and Carragher, old foes from Liverpool’s Istanbul
Champions League triumph, was illuminating. Dominic King listened in and
made notes (and got his picture taken to show his mum).*STORY COURTESY MAIL , LONDON 
CARRAGHER:
Here we are 10 years after we first played against each other in the
Champions League final. Now things are very different to 2005 and both
of our teams have struggled this season. It hurts me when Liverpool lose
- are you the same with Milan?
MALDINI: Of
course! I started there when I was 10 and finished when I was 41. My
father, Cesare, was captain, my kids are in the academy now. Milan is
not just a team for me. It is part of my life. My family loves those
colours. But you know what?
When
I see it (like it is now), I feel sad. We built with other great
players something unique and they didn’t realise the importance of the
men and the people. You know what?
Only
Franco Baresi works there now. No other former players. That is sad.
Milan have a great tradition and they completely let it go. So the new
generation, they do not understand. There is all that history of the
club but now it is different.
CARRAGHER: Do you think, when you are watching, that you would like to help?
MALDINI:
I would love to! I received a lot of things from my club. I gave them
my passion and my body because I cannot walk now (laughs)! But I’d just
love to give back something, to give them my experience. The kids are
not so bad but they need someone who can give them the right way to
follow... but I don’t think it is going to happen.
CARRAGHER:
When I was growing up, Milan were the team. I used to watch the teams
of Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello on TV all the time. Last week, when I
was in Madrid, I saw Sacchi and he was speaking about you and that
team. What influence did he have on you?
MALDINI: He
was very tough. Training used to be a little bit crazy. He’d work you
hard, then work your mind. He would make you repeat the same things over
and over, especially defenders.
Every
day we’d do the same thing. But if me, Baresi, (Alessandro) Costacurta
and (Mauro) Tassotti meet each other now, we can still play as we did in
the 1990s. It is stuck in your mind. That was one of the secrets of our
success.
It
helped the Milan legend to continue. That team played at that level
(raises hand in air) for so long. I won my first Champions League in
1989 and I won my last one 18 years later. But now? It’s a pity.
*Maldini was happy to talk about that famous night despite being on the wrong end of the shootout defeat
CARRAGHER: Do you think, when you are watching, that you would like to help?
MALDINI:
I would love to! I received a lot of things from my club. I gave them
my passion and my body because I cannot walk now (laughs)! But I’d just
love to give back something, to give them my experience. The kids are
not so bad but they need someone who can give them the right way to
follow... but I don’t think it is going to happen.
CARRAGHER:
When I was growing up, Milan were the team. I used to watch the teams
of Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello on TV all the time. Last week, when I
was in Madrid, I saw Sacchi and he was speaking about you and that
team. What influence did he have on you?
MALDINI: He
was very tough. Training used to be a little bit crazy. He’d work you
hard, then work your mind. He would make you repeat the same things over
and over, especially defenders.
Every
day we’d do the same thing. But if me, Baresi, (Alessandro) Costacurta
and (Mauro) Tassotti meet each other now, we can still play as we did in
the 1990s. It is stuck in your mind. That was one of the secrets of our
success.
It
helped the Milan legend to continue. That team played at that level
(raises hand in air) for so long. I won my first Champions League in
1989 and I won my last one 18 years later. But now? It’s a pity.
CARRAGHER:
I watched the European Cup final when you beat Steaua Bucharest 4-0 in
Barcelona in 1989. Your performance was possibly better in Istanbul?
MALDINI: We
couldn’t have done anything better. The crazy thing is we arrived in
Milan and the supporters were waiting for us. They were screaming: ‘What
have you done?!’ We put everything into it.
We
played maybe our best final, with the exception of 1994 (a 4-0 win over
Barcelona). I thought it was my last chance to win it and it had gone.
And the game was crazy. I scored — I scored! It was the quickest goal in
a final!
CARRAGHER: At half-time, you were leading 3-0. Could you believe how easy it had been?
MALDINI: I
know a story came out that we celebrated at half-time. You know that it
was impossible. When we got into the locker room it was crazy.
People
were screaming at each other, like they were fighting. So Ancelotti
turns to everyone and says: ‘Shut up! For five minutes, I don’t want to
hear any of you! I don’t want to hear one word!’
So
we completely shut up, we calmed down and then we started to talk about
what we had done good, what was not so good and we started thinking
about the second half. That was it. Inside, I thought to myself, ‘We
have a big chance’, but I didn’t say anything. Nobody did.
CARRAGHER:
If you are losing 3-0 to a team you know you are better than, you
always have a chance. But this was AC Milan! I was thinking: ‘4-0
Barcelona; 4-0 Steaua Bucharest; this could be five or six.’ What do you
think changed?
MALDINI: You
know, something happened in the second half - your fans. They started
to sing and sing. Don’t forget usually the stadium is 50-50 but it was
75 per cent Liverpool, 25 per cent Milan.
Our
fans had sold their tickets to Liverpool fans. I remember the first
goal. I could see Gerrard and (Jaap) Stam and I was about to shout: ‘Be
careful! He’s coming!’ But then I didn’t say anything. Then the ball
comes in and Gerrard scores. I say to myself: ‘Oh s***! Why didn’t you
say something?’
CARRAGHER: Was the second goal (from Vladimir Smicer) the turning point for you?
MALDINI:
Yeah. That changed a lot. All of a sudden, you are one goal from the
tie. But when it got to 3-3, we started again and we had chances. The
psychology of the game can change when you get to 3-3. Maybe you started
to think you had something to lose.
CARRAGHER: What of Gerrard’s performance in that game? He played three different positions. Do people still talk about him in Italy?
MALDINI:
I still remember his face and the pain he was in from cramp but he was
still going around tackling everybody. He put everything into it. For
you guys, he was an example for all the others.
CARRAGHER:
It must have been so difficult when we were celebrating. There is a
picture of you shaking my hand. Even after all you had won, I could
still see hurt in your face, but you were still able to show class with
your reaction.
MALDINI:
You have to accept the result, even if it is so sad for you. But we
were also lucky because two years later we got a small chance for
revenge. We didn’t play that good in Athens but we won.
CARRAGHER: Did you want to play Liverpool again in 2007 then after what had happened?
MALDINI: No.
Noooo! We didn’t play well in that final. We had not played well that
whole year, in fact, but when we got to the quarter-finals it started to
get better.
Still,
in that final, we had everything to lose. Another defeat by Liverpool
would have been a real tragedy. But you cannot choose your opponents. I
hadn’t played for three months before and in the final my knee was
completely gone.
I
wasn’t able to play that game and Ancelotti knew it. But I tried. I
took so many painkillers in those three months! And it is funny - I
don’t remember too much about that game.
CARRAGHER: Neither do I. I’ve never watched the game. Not once. When you lose something that big...
MALDINI: All
I remember is lifting the cup. We celebrated for 36 hours. After the
party finished, I went straight to a surgeon in Belgium. My knee had
completely gone.
What
I do remember most is waking up after the anaesthesia, probably another
24 hours later. I started thinking to myself, ‘Did I win? Did I win?’
Ten seconds later . . . ‘Yes! We won!’ It was crazy.
CARRAGHER: So that was your eighth final and your fifth win. Which was your best victory?
MALDINI: (Francisco)
Gento also played in eight finals (for Real Madrid), but he won six.
Still, my record isn’t too bad! Each victory was different.
The
first was special because it was the first. We played in Barcelona in
front of 90,000 AC Milan supporters. Arriving to the stadium was the
greatest experience I have had in my life. It was like for you in
Istanbul. Great, great. Then Barcelona in Athens was also very good.
CARRAGHER: Neither do I. I’ve never watched the game. Not once. When you lose something that big...
MALDINI: All
I remember is lifting the cup. We celebrated for 36 hours. After the
party finished, I went straight to a surgeon in Belgium. My knee had
completely gone.
What
I do remember most is waking up after the anaesthesia, probably another
24 hours later. I started thinking to myself, ‘Did I win? Did I win?’
Ten seconds later . . . ‘Yes! We won!’ It was crazy.
CARRAGHER: So that was your eighth final and your fifth win. Which was your best victory?
MALDINI: (Francisco)
Gento also played in eight finals (for Real Madrid), but he won six.
Still, my record isn’t too bad! Each victory was different.
The
first was special because it was the first. We played in Barcelona in
front of 90,000 AC Milan supporters. Arriving to the stadium was the
greatest experience I have had in my life. It was like for you in
Istanbul. Great, great. Then Barcelona in Athens was also very good.
CARRAGHER: And how about the best defender? How big an influence was Baresi on you? Was he the boss of the defence? What made him special?
MALDINI: That’s
exactly it. He was special. He was a short, skinny guy but so strong.
He could jump so high. The way he played on the field was an example for
everybody. He wasn’t a big speaker, no, no, no. The way he played, the
way he trained was an example.
He
wasn’t like Stam, a big guy who was strong and fast. He had pace, but
he was only 70kg. But let me tell you — when he hit you with a tackle,
he was so strong.
For
me, he was the role model. He was a reference. He was also very good
with the ball. Very, very good. It is very hard to find a good defender,
who is strong and good with the ball. Very hard.
CARRAGHER:
In England, when I was growing up, children who wanted to be defenders
would say your name or Baresi. There were others like Lilian Thuram,
Marcel Desailly and Fabio Cannavaro. What do you think of the standards
now?
MALDINI: There
are no more defenders. A great defender makes the market much more than
a striker. Also you know what happened? I used to play at left back.
Now a left back is judged only on what he is doing with the ball.
They
don’t think about what they are doing in defence. They are just
watching what you are doing when you are attacking. I know that the hard
part is defending. I know it because with Sacchi everyone was
defending, from the strikers to the goalkeeper.
In
Italy, we had a great tradition for defenders, but now we don’t have
any more. I don’t know why. I believe that Thiago Silva is the best in
the world right now.
CARRAGHER:
Did you ever have a chance to come to England and is there any part of
you that regrets not coming? Everyone would have been delighted to see
you in the Premier League.
MALDINI: I
had an offer from Manchester United, but I didn’t speak directly to
them. Luca Vialli, when he was Chelsea manager, called me. That was in
1996. We’d had a very bad season. There was also something from Arsenal,
but I never spoke to them directly.
I
would have said no anyway. Vialli was a friend of mine and he was the
only one who made me think. I had some problems with my team and the
supporters at that time. I thought, just for one day, ‘What if?’ But
then, no.
CARRAGHER: You also had the chance to coach at Chelsea.
MALDINI:
The offer came only one week after my last game for Milan. I wasn’t
ready. I didn’t want to move my family to London. I went there. I spoke
to Mr Abramovich. I spoke to Ray Wilkins, who I had played with at
Milan. I don’t know. I decided not to do it.
CARRAGHER:
So what do you think of football in England then? And do you ever see a
time when Italian clubs will dominate like they did in the 1990s?
MALDINI: Yes,
I watch. It is still England. You are still physically strong. You have
teams like Manchester City and Liverpool and they play the ball. But it
is a completely different league to anywhere else.
You
have great players that cannot play over there because the league is
too (physically) strong. For Italian clubs, it is going to take a while.
There is less money. Horrible stadiums. You have to cut the problem
with violent supporters. Families with their kids don’t go any more.
They
say Milan are trying to build a new stadium, but I don’t know if it
will happen. Also I believe Milan needs a stadium bigger than 45,000. It
needs 60,000 at least if you want to go back to that level. The San
Siro is still beautiful, but it is very old.
CARRAGHER: But I want to see Milan back - it is just the name, the kit, the history. I feel the same about Liverpool.
MALDINI:
I want to see it too, you know. All our historic rivals, Real,
Barcelona, Liverpool - I want to see Milan up there. It is nice to play
these teams with great histories. It is very sad when you see them going
down.
CARRAGHER:
If you don’t know what the future holds for Milan, what does it hold
for you? You have just launched a project in Miami, but do you see
yourself being a manager?
MALDINI:
No. I don’t like it. I really don’t like it. I still go to most of the
Milan games with my friends. I love football. But I’m probably not going
to work with Milan. For the moment, I’m a father full time. But a
chance to work again with Milan? For me it would be giving back
something.
*STORY COURTESY MAIL , LONDON
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