A Rossoneri remembered - Paolo Maldini

Maldini was a mainstay for the national team too. He was a part of the Italian national team from 1988 to 2002, during which time Italy lost the 1994 World Cup final to Brazil and the Euro 2000 final to France. With 126 appearances, he holds the record for the international appearances, and it is a testimonial to his leadership qualities that he was captain of Italy in 74 appearances.

He rejected the idea of a testimonial match for himself saying that he wanted to go out with an official match and duly retired after the 2002 World Cup. Although he retired trophy-less, a defense which had grown up under him and consisted of Cannavaro, Nesta, Materazzi , Oddo and Zambrotta won Italy the Jules Rimet trophy in 2006.

He was exceptional as a defender. He had decent pace and an instinctive understanding of when to go forward. He was right footed and could easily alternate between centre half and left back. The most impressive thing about Maldini though is his tackle rate. Almost all through his career, he averaged only one tackle every two games, which in fact is a very low rate for a defender.

Maldini firmly believed that tackling your opponent was the last option available to a defender. He believed more in marking strikers out of the game. Also, he made a very high number of interceptions for a defender, although accurate statistics of his interceptions are not available it is safe to say that he had a brilliant reading of the game.

An immensely humble personality, Madini always credited his defensive ability to Franco Baresi and Arrigo Sacchi. All through the 1990’s and early 2000’s Maldini was recognized as one of the premier defenders in the world. He had finished second to George Weah in the 1995 World Player of the Year awards but I am pretty sure that it did not matter much to Maldini. For him it was always the team that was important and if something happened to him for his contributions to the team, he was happy, but unlike players today he did not seek individual honors.

An epitome of dedication and commitment, Maldini was the perfect professional. He did what was asked of him and contributed much more. Seeing him chasing down Ibrahimovic and dispossessing him after the forward had a 5 yard headstart on him during the 2007 Milan Derby is an image that is etched into my mind. It was this commitment and desire that kept him at the top of the pile for so long. And when he knew that he could not keep up to his own lofty standards, he chose to bow out.

I wish buon compleanno (happy birthday) to this legend and hope I see another defender as good as him.