#4 His longevity is incomparable in football history
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Maldini began his professional career in 1985, and for a period of 25 years, he was almost the exact same player when we talk about his fitness and his endurance levels. He was a world-class player for the entire length of his career, and even though he was 41 years old when he retired, Paolo was an athletic phenomenon till his last game.
Such consistency over such an incredibly long period of time (Paolo has 902 appearances for club and country) has only been shown by the greatest players of all time. While Maldini had a number of injury-hit seasons during the latter stages of his career, his overall quality was always taken for granted by every Milan manager that he played under.
While he was easily the best defender of his team in the noughties, Maldini was also really gracious and intelligent while managing the number of games he played each season. He gave up playing twice a week for extended periods, in order to preserve his fitness levels for the games that he did play in.
