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Titolo: [Eng] Ennesima bella interivista al ns Paolo

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Carolina72
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Paolo Maldini bids 'arrivederci Milan'
By Tony Francis
Last Updated: 12:32am GMT 18/02/2008Page 1 of 2
For a modest chap who prefers mum's pasta to Carluccio's finest, Paolo 
Maldini made quite a splash when he stepped into Serie A 23 years ago. He, 
more than Gunnar Nordahl, Gianni Rivera or Ruud Gullit, became the symbol of 
AC Milan. Not bad for a full-back, but then Italy reinvented the breed.
So what kind of man is this who can dispossess Diego Maradona and force 
Zinedine Zidane to seek refuge on the other side of the park? Maldini shrugs 
his shoulders as if to say: "Just doing my job." His acceptance speech after 
winning World Soccer magazine's player of the year award in 1996 went 
something like: "What, me? I'm a defender."
Champion: Paolo Maldini has won everything in his playing career
Most women would risk their long-term relationships for half an hour with 
him. He's impossibly good-looking, even by Italian standards; he's captain 
of the world club champions; a euro-billionaire and a male model. If pushed, 
he'll host your disco.
All right, where's the catch? Cocaine problem? Serial philanderer? Well, no, 
actually. Paolo Maldini is like one of those infuriating swots who wins all 
the school prizes and stars in the nativity play. Blemish-free. By his 
mid-teens he was DJ at a local radio station, where he fell in love with a 
stunning young model of Italo-Venezuelan origin called Adriana Fossa, later 
to become his wife. Italian footballers don't do ugly.
Giorgio Armani desperately wanted Maldini to model his clothes when he 
kitted out the Azzurri for the 1998 World Cup. The player declined. With a 
more acquisitive temperament and a pushy partner he'd have out-Beckhamed 
David Beckham by now. Can't you just see him as the new Marcello Mastroianni 
in a remake of La Dolce Vita?
As it is, Maldini is content to be a legend in his own dressing room. Even 
that can be embarrassing. He was surprised that an English journalist would 
think him important enough to write home about. Surely his forthcoming 
retirement didn't deserve the Sinatra treatment? On Saturday he played his 
1,000th game for club and country when he came on as substitute in Milan's 
0-0 draw at Parma, yet when I reminded him that he was the longest-serving 
one-club man in history, he had no idea. Maybe he is as institutionalised in 
his way as Rudolf Hess was in Spandau Prison. Or maybe AC Milan really is 
the greatest place on God's earth.
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"Fantastic facilities," says Ray Wilkins, a team-mate of Maldini in the 
mid-Eighties. "When you consider that Milanello, the training camp, was 
probably built half a century before Arsenal's and Manchester United's you 
realise how advanced they are. The players' restaurant is the best in 
Milan."
If it hadn't been for the flashing smile, eyes the colour of Colombian 
coffee beans and that trademark central parting, the world's most decorated 
footballer would have been indistinguishable from the tifosi waiting for a 
glimpse of him at Milanello. The crumpled jeans, lived-in leather bolero and 
workaday trainers were regulation issue. At least they were designed to look 
like that. Apart from his collection of 100 pairs of jeans, most things 
about Paolo Maldini are understated: his outfit; his public persona; his 
football and his lifestyle.
He says: "There's nothing unusual about serving the same employer for 23 
years." That might have been true in a Scunthorpe iron foundry but not 
turn-of-the-millennium football, where transfer bonuses buy you that villa 
in Dubai and loyalty is an indication that you were breast-fed too long.
In any case, he has been at Milan for 29 years if you include his 
apprenticeship. I asked Maldini whether he had been tempted in all that time 
to join Manchester United, Real Madrid or another big European club. "Not 
once," he replied unhesitatingly. "I have great respect for the Premier 
League, but why leave Milan? I've got everything I want here. Il Milan e la 
mia famiglia." We haven't heard an Englishman utter those sentiments since 
Pongo Waring was banging in goals for Aston Villa between the wars.
Maldini resisted my invitation to speak English, claiming he hadn't 
progressed beyond his aunt's pen turning up on his uncle's desk. I knew that 
was a porky because of a television interview I did with him during Euro 
'96. But I hadn't come to Milanello to argue, so Italian it was. I heard 
about his voluntary 30 per cent pay cut when the Milan president Silvio 
Berlusconi was feeling the pinch, and how he agreed to halve his salary from 
?5?million to ?2.5?million for this, his final season, knowing that his 
troublesome knees would reduce his availability. "Despite the occasional 
pain," he said, "I still get pleasure from training and playing. Just as 
important, I still enjoy the camaraderie in the dressing room." Then he 
gazed out of the window at the manicured lawns of Milanello, edged with 
distant, snowcapped mountains and sighed: "I shall miss this place."
Why did he stay on after winning the World Club Cup against Boca Juniors 
last December? Wasn't that a more natural "out" than his 40th birthday in 
June? He replied: "They asked me to." Milan have a habit of looking after 
their ageing gems.
His father, Cesare, who captained Milan to their first European Cup title in 
1963 and coached his son in the Italian national side from 1996 to 1998, 
told me that Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to Paolo when he was already in his 
thirties about the possibility of a lucrative swansong at Old Trafford. 
Paolo barely flinched.
Said Cesare: "He grew up at AC Milan. You can't change your birth sign." 
With five Champions League medals and goodness knows how many scudettos in 
his cabinet, who cares about being institutionalised? Curiously, in 126 
appearances for Italy, he never won a title. Brazil beat them on penalties 
in that mind-numbing 1994 World Cup final and France squeaked past them in 
the European Championship final six years later.
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He says: "They were my biggest disappointments. It's funny that as soon as I 
retired from international football, Italy won the World Cup."
It's a tribute, not to say a bloody miracle, that he's navigated 
paparazzi-infested waters and endured almost daily intrusions into his life 
without the merest hint of scandal. Not even a boozy night out. What's his 
problem?
Football fans' forum
"My father instilled in me the need to behave correctly on and off the 
pitch. I don't remember him as a player but he coached me as a boy and 
taught me how to be a man." He was evidently a good student. According to 
Wilkins: "Not only is Paolo a lovely fella, he also had the intelligence and 
humility to handle any situation. They're vital qualities for a superstar."
Just when we thought it was safe, there's a third Maldini in the Milan 
academy. And wouldn't you know, Paolo's 11-year-old son, Christian, is a 
full-back, too. I wondered about a possible repeat of last month's episode 
at Inter, where Robert Mancini gave his 17-year-old son, Filippo, a 
first-team debut in the Coppa Italia?
Paolo smiled: "That won't happen with Christian because I have no intention 
of becoming a coach. If he makes it, I'll be there to support him as a proud 
father." He continued: "I would like to stay with the club in some capacity 
but that's still to be decided."
The dynasty, you suspect, will go on and on. It could have been so 
different. Paolo was a Juventus fan at school.
Comments
What a great man of football...Paolo could teach a lot of our over paid 
players here in England about something called loyalty.
Posted by david on February 18, 2008 7:20 AM
Report this comment
A true embodiment of the word LEGEND, and a true testament to what the term 
'world class' means. Many salivate over performances of Premier League 
players today and label them the legends and world class, Maldini has played 
the best and beat them, from Maradona to Ronaldo. A true role model for not 
just budding footballers, but human beings as well.
Posted by Michel Dominici on February 18, 2008 3:42 AM 

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Inviato via 
http://arianna.libero.it/usenet/

Un nome:
History maker
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  He's impossibly good-looking, *even by Italian standards*;
Farei notare questa parte.

 For a modest chap who prefers mum's pasta to Carluccio's finest,
Carluccio Ancelotti?? 

 Carluccio Ancelotti??
lol
Carol 

 Posted by Michel Dominici on February 18, 2008 3:42 AM 
Mi resta solo da capire perchè non si sia ritirato ad Atene o Yokohama.
Pensavo avesse in testa di farlo a Istanbul con la coppa in mano, tutto 
rinviato per come fini quella notte.
Ora un altra possibilità sarà dura averla e credo che per come stia 
fisicamente a fine stagione non ci siano altri rinvii.

> Mi resta solo da capire perchè non si sia ritirato ad Atene o Yokohama.
Yokohama era l'ultimo suo obiettivo, ma non avrebbe avuto senso 
ritirarsi a metà stagione.
-- 
e adesso ridateci la gioconda!

 Carluccio Ancelotti??
no, questo:
http://www.carluccios.com/

> Mi resta solo da capire perchè non si sia ritirato ad Atene o Yokohama.
imho doveva appendere le scarpe il 1° gennaio ma forse l'ingaggio gli ha 
fatto cambiare idea :)

herzoa ha scritto:
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quoto
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questo articolo e` stato inviato via web dal servizio gratuito 
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 realise how advanced they are.
se pensiamo che Wilkins ha frequentato Milanello probabilmente nei suoi
giorni peggiori, ci rendiamo conto di quanto deve essere bello.
Comunque a parte le solite cose su Paolo che ormai leggiamo una volta al
mese, è bello che lameno in questa piccola cosa una squadra italiana sia
stata all'avanguardia
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 giorni peggiori, ci rendiamo conto di quanto deve essere bello.
considera che ai tempi di Wilkins Milanello veniva *affittato per i
matrimoni*
: /
immaginati la differenza rispetto ad ora, che è più simile ad una base
militare americana