Paolo Maldini

Paolo Maldini
Paolo Maldini.jpg
Personal information
Full name Paolo Cesare Maldini
Date of birth June 26, 1968 (1968-06-26) (age 41)
Place of birth    Milan, Italy
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Playing position Centre-back / Left-back
Club information
Current club Milan
Number 3
Youth clubs
1978–1985 Milan
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1984– Milan 626 (29)   
National team2
1986–1988
1988–2002		 Italy U-21
Italy		 012 0(5)
126 0(7)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 4 December 2008.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 18 June 2002.
* Appearances (Goals)

Paolo Cesare Maldini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpaolo malˈd̪ini]; born June 26, 1968 in Milan) is an Italian footballer who has played his entire career for Serie A club A.C. Milan. The son of Cesare Maldini, and is the most-selected player in the history of the club, Serie A and the Italian national team. He has played at left back for the majority of his career, since 2002 he has been deployed in that position or as a centre back. He is the most capped player for the Italian national team with 126 caps.

Contents

Club career

Maldini made his league debut on January 20, 1985, at the age of sixteen, against Udinese Calcio as a halftime substitution for the injured Sergio Battistini.[2][3] It would be his only league appearance of the campaign, but he was in the starting eleven the following season.

The 1987–88 Scudetto marked Maldini's first major trophy, and the first of seven league titles, with the club.[4] He was also part of AC Milan's undefeated "Dream Team" from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.

In addition to winning his third Champions League and reaching the 1994 FIFA World Cup final, Maldini became the first defender ever to win World Soccer magazine's annual World Player of the Year Award. During his acceptance speech, Maldini called his milestone "a particular matter of pride because defenders generally receive so much less attention from fans and the media than goalscorers. We are more in the engine room rather than taking the glory."[5] He then singled out Milan captain Franco Baresi as a player who "really [deserved] to receive the sort of award I have received."[5]

Maldini played his 600th Serie A match on May 13, 2007, in a 1–1 draw at Calcio Catania.[6] On September 25, 2005, Maldini broke Dino Zoff's Serie A appearance record after playing his 571st league match against Treviso F.B.C.;[7] seven days earlier, he had played his 800th game in all competitions for Milan. On February 16, 2008, Maldini reached 1,000 senior games with AC Milan and Italy when he entered as a substitute against Parma.[8]

Maldini has participated in eight UEFA Champions League finals during the course of his career, which is more than any other active player, and equals the record held by Francisco Gento, though Gento also appeared in a Cup Winners Cup final, bringing his total European finals to nine. Maldini has lifted the trophy five times, the latest coming in Milan's 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the 2007 CL final on May 23, 2007, in Athens. In an interview with ESPN that aired prior to the broadcast of the 2007 final, he labeled the 2005 final, which Milan lost on penalties to Liverpool in extra time after blowing a 3–0 lead, the worst moment of his career, even though he had scored the fastest-ever goal in a European Clubs' Cup final just 51 seconds into the match, in the process also becoming the oldest player ever to score in a final.

Maldini announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2007-08 season, saying that he would do so with "no regrets."[9] However, following Milan's elimination from the Champions League by Arsenal F.C. in March, Maldini stated that he would possibly delay his retirement for at least a further year.[10] He signed an extension on June 6 that will keep him at Milan for the 2008-09 season.

Milan plan to retire his number 3 shirt, but it will be bequeathed to one of his sons if one makes the club's senior side.[11][12] His eldest son, Christian, is twelve years old and is currently playing for the Milan youth squad.

International career

In 1986, Maldini was called up by his father, Cesare, to the Italian U-21 side, where he earned twelve caps and scored five goals in two years. He made his Azzurri debut at the age of nineteen on March 31, 1988, in a 1-1 friendly draw against Yugoslavia, and made one appearance for Italy at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Maldini featured in all four of Italy's games at Euro 1988, and participated in his first World Cup in 1990, where Italy lost to Argentina in the semifinals on penalties.

Maldini's first international goal came in his 44th career match, in a 2-0 friendly win over Mexico on January 20, 1993. He captained Italy at the start of the 1994 World Cup, losing to Brazil in the final on penalties. Euro 1996 would see Italy eliminated in the group stage, and the quarterfinals of the 1998 World Cup. Italy did reach the final of Euro 2000, but lost to France; it would be closest that Maldini would come to winning a major tournament.

After Italy were eliminated in the 2002 World Cup round of sixteen, Maldini retired trophyless from international competition as Italy's most capped player. He scored seven international goals, all coming in home games. He spent over half of his sixteen years as an international as team captain, wearing the armband a record seventy-four times. He is also the only current Milan player who have earned the most caps for their national teams.

Honours

Milan

Individual

Orders

Ufficiale OMRI BAR.svg
4th Class / Official: Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana:[13] 2000
Cavaliere OMRI BAR.svg
5th Class / Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana:[14] 1991

Career statistics

Club

[1]

Team Season Serie A Coppa Italia European
Competition1		 Other
Tournaments2		 Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Milan 1984-85 1 0 - - - - - - 1 0
1985-86 27 0 6 0 6 0 1 0 40 0
1986-87 29 + 13 1 7 0 - - - - 37 1
1987-88 26 2 1 0 2 0 - - 29 2
1988-89 26 0 7 0 7 0 - - 40 0
1989-90 30 1 6 0 10 0 1 0 47 1
1990-91 26 4 3 0 5 0 1 0 35 4
1991-92 31 3 7 1 - - - - 38 4
1992-93 31 2 8 0 10 1 1 0 50 3
1993-94 30 1 2 0 12 1 2 0 46 2
1994-95 29 2 1 0 12 0 1 0 43 2
1995-96 30 3 3 0 8 0 - - 41 3
1996-97 26 1 3 0 6 0 1 0 36 1
1997-98 30 0 7 0 - - - - 37 0
1998-99 31 1 2 0 - - - - 33 1
1999-00 27 1 4 0 6 0 1 0 38 1
2000-01 31 1 4 0 14 0 - - 49 1
2001-02 15 0 - - 4 0 - - 19 0
2002-03 29 2 1 0 19 0 - - 49 2
2003-04 30 0 - - 10 0 2 0 42 0
2004-05 33 0 - - 13 1 1 0 47 1
2005-06 14 2 - - 9 0 - - 23 2
2006-07 18 1 - - 9 0 - - 27 1
2007-08 17 1 - - 4 0 2 0 23 1
2008-09 9 0 - - 1 0 - - 10 0
Career Total 626 + 13 29 72 1 167 3 14 0 880 33

1European competitions include the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, and UEFA Super Cup
2Other tournaments include the Supercoppa Italiana, Intercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Cup
3Play-off for UEFA Cup admission
Updated on 4 December 2008.

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. January 20, 1993 Florence, Italy Flag of Mexico.svg Mexico 2–0 Win Friendly
2. March 24, 1993 Palermo, Italy Flag of Malta.svg Malta 6–1 Win FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualification
3. November 11, 1995 Bari, Italy Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 3–1 Win UEFA Euro 1996 Qualification
4. March 29, 1997 Trieste, Italy Flag of Moldova.svg Moldova 3–0 Win FIFA World Cup 1998 Qualification
5. April 30, 1997 Naples, Italy Flag of Poland.svg Poland 3–0 Win FIFA World Cup 1998 Qualification
6. April 22, 1998 Parma, Italy Flag of Paraguay.svg Paraguay 3–1 Win Friendly
7. June 5, 1999 Bologna, Italy Flag of Wales 2.svg Wales 4–0 Win UEFA Euro 2000 Qualification

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Paolo Maldini - AC Milan Player Profile".
  2. ↑ "Paolo Maldini". Talk Football. Retrieved on 2008-02-25.
  3. ↑ "Maldini the fulcrum of Milan generation game". Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  4. ↑ "Paolo Maldini". UEFA. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Paolo Maldini". Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
  6. ↑ "Maldini infinito: e sono 600" (in Italian). Gazzetta dello Sport (2007-05-14). Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  7. ↑ "Maldini sets record". soccernet.espn.go.com (2005-09-25). Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
  8. ↑ "Anche il Parma frena il Milan" (in Italian). Gazzetta dello Sport (2008-02-16). Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
  9. ↑ "Maldini to quit at end of season". BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2007-12-17.
  10. ↑ FourFourTwo. "Injured Maldini's career could be over". Retrieved on 2008-04-16.
  11. ↑ "Paolo Maldini: like father, like son". FIFA. Retrieved on 2005-02-08.
  12. ↑ "The monarch of defence". Toronto Star. Retrieved on 2005-05-06.
  13. ↑ "Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana". Retrieved on 2008-10-20.
  14. ↑ "(Italian) Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana". Retrieved on 2008-10-20.
A.C. Milan – current squad

1 Dida • 3 Maldini • 4 Kaladze • 5 Emerson • 7 Pato • 8 Gattuso • 9 Inzaghi • 10 Seedorf • 11 Borriello • 12 Abbiati • 13 Nesta • 14 Cardacio • 15 Zambrotta • 16 Kalac • 18 Jankulovski • 19 Favalli • 20 Viudez • 21 Pirlo • 22 Kaká • 23 Ambrosini • 24 Senderos • 25 Bonera • 36 Darmian • 76 Shevchenko • 77 Antonini • 80 Ronaldinho • 84 Flamini • Coach: Ancelotti
Persondata
NAME Maldini, Paolo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 1968-6-26
PLACE OF BIRTH Milan, Italy
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH