Paolo Maldini Biography

Italian football has always been the origin of superstars and football idols. From the past to the present, the likes of Franco Baresi, Gianni Rivera, and Giuseppe Meazza to Francesco Totti, Alessandro Nesta, Costacorta have made up a large part of Italian history and football. Paolo Maldini is one of those names who has played an important role not only in the history of Italy but also in the history of

. Paolo Maldini has been one of the great football stars since his early life, and today in Paolo Maldini's biography, we want to explore all details of the life of this legend.

In Milan, a name arouses the respect of all the people of the San Siro. Perhaps there is no need to say this name is Paolo Maldini, who, according to the fans of AC Milan, is the greatest symbol of all time. We are going to the early years of Paolo Maldini's life. He was just a handsome boy when he decided to follow in his father's footsteps. Many believe that "it seems like being a legend is in the gene of the Maldini family."

After all, he was the son of Cesare Maldini, a man who had won many honors for the Rossoneri, not only on the pitch but also as head coach. Cesare Maldini was the idol of the fans and Paolo Maldini was the dearest person in the hearts of the Milanese. At the age of 20, Paolo Maldini was in the starting line-up of Arrigo Sacchi's dream team, and from the very beginning, he learned how to be the best by being with a defender like Franco Baresi. Two consecutive European championships and two undefeated seasons was a statistic that the teams of that time and even the current teams could only achieve in their dreams! Maldini was one of the main players of the AC Milan defensive line.

In 1994, Milan set a unique record by winning a total of two goals in the Champions League. In the same year and in the World Cup in the United States, Maldini was just one step away from completing his honors, but Italy lost to Brazil on penalties and missed out on the trophy.

Paolo Maldini nationality

is Italian and he was a key player in Italy too. Maldini, however, finished third in the World Player of the Year award, yet World Soccer selected him as the 1994 Player of the Year. In 1995, he was nominated for the best player of the year by FIFA, in which he was ranked second. Stay tuned as we take a look at Paolo Maldini biography.

All You Need to Know About Paolo Maldini Biography

Did you know that Sir Alex Ferguson really tried many times to take Paolo Maldini to

, but Cesare Maldini strongly resisted? Of course, Paolo himself never paid attention to these offers and always wanted to wear the Rossoneri shirt. Paolo Maldini was probably one of the unique defenders with more complete skills than Franz Beckenbauer. The popular Italian has played most of his professional career as a left-back while he was a right-foot.

During his career, Paolo competed with the best players and won most of the duels. We all remember Maldini competing with Maradona in the 1980s. He has even competed with

and

. He is known as the greatest and best left-back of all time. France Football also recently named Maldini the best left-back of all time.

Thanks to his great technical abilities, Maldini was able to join the first team of Milan at a young age, exactly when he was only 16 years old. In the two years that have passed since Maldini was introduced to Milan's first team, he has shown his ability to play against European teams and the best players in the world.

Everything you have been heard about Paolo Maldini is just one of the strengths of this living legend. It all happened at the highest level of his game, because his defensive skills, at the age of 23, were truly incredible. He is one of the few defenders to have won the European Club Cup twice by the age of 23 twice.

Paolo Maldini Information

In this part of Paolo Maldini biography, you could find some general information about Paolo Maldini listed down here.

Paolo Maldini Bio

• Full Name: Paolo Cesare Maldini

• Nickname: Il Capitano

• Profession: Professional Football Player

Paolo Maldini Physical Stats

• Weight: 85 Kg

• Height: 1.86m

• Eye Color: Hazel

• Hair Color: Light brown

Paolo Maldini Football Information

• Position: Defender

• Jersey Number: 3

• Professional Debut: 1985

Paolo Maldini Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 26 June 1968

• Birth Place: Milano, Italy

• Zodiac Sign: Cancer

• Nationality: Italian

Paolo Maldini Early Life

Paolo Maldini was born on June 26, 1968 in Milan.

Paolo Maldini childhood

 was spent in a very good way as he was the son of one of the most famous men in Italy. Perhaps Paolo Maldini childhood was one of the dreams every child has as he was the son of one of the most famous men in Italy. Paolo Maldini was born to Maria Luisa Maldini and Cesare Maldini.

Paolo Maldini life story

is loaded with memories of Milan as he started his youth career in the club and never left his boyhood club.

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Paolo Maldini Profile

In this section of Paolo Maldini biography, we will take a look at his professional career from his early days until now that he is the director of AC Milan. The son of the former Italian footballer and coach, Cesare Maldini, has been playing for AC Milan since he was 10 years old. In the 1984/85 season and on 20 January 1985 against Udinese, he made his debut in Serie A. Maldini came on in the second half. He played one game in the Italian league during the 1984/85 season.

He became a key player at AC Milan in the 1985/86 season. Since then, he has mostly played as a central defender and sometimes as a left-back. The Scudetto of the 1987/88 season was the first title he won with AC Milan. In the late 1980s, was playing alongside players such as Franco Baresi, Marco van Basten, Roberto Donadoni, Ruud Gullit, and Frank Rijkaard.

On December 16, 2007, during the Club World Cup in Yokohama, he announced that he is going to retire from football in 2008. On 7 March 2008, two days after eliminating in the round of 16 of the Champions League against

, he reconsidered his decision and said he wants to extend his contract for another year. Meanwhile, he extended his contract until June 30, 2009. On April 17, 2009, Maldini announced that this time, he would retire from football at the end of the 2008/09 season. He also added that he would continue to work in the world of football, although not as a coach.

Stay tuned to read more about 

Paolo Maldini Biography

 and get to know him better.

Style of Play

Maldini is one of the best defenders of history. You would probably be very surprised if you check his videos on YouTube right now because it is almost impossible to find a defender with physical characteristics and technical abilities similar to Maldini. All the forwards were trying to change their direction when they faced Maldini!

Maldini's greatest characteristic was his ability to stop an attack without error, but his more professional ability in the last years of his career was to play a useful role even when he was in central defense; where he never needed to tackle as he could easily read the game and stop the attack. During his playing career, Maldini faced dangerous attacking wingers and attacking midfielders. A player like Brazilian Ronaldo, in the presence of Maldini, was completely out of the game.

Even

admitted this and when he was asked who is the toughest defender he ever faced, he mentioned Paolo Maldini. He was not the only admirer of Paolo Maldini's style of play. Many of the players who played against Maldini recognized him as the best defender in history. He is also one of the few players to have done well against Ronaldo in "Man-to-man" marking duels.

The most important reason for Paolo Maldini's greatness was his defensive skills, but football fans often forget that he was a great left-back too. In fact, Maldini was right-foot and it gave him the ability to become a great weapon in the attack.

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Reception

Maybe we got to the easiest part. No one does not accept Paolo Maldini as a great man and a player who changed the style of defense in football. Paolo Maldini's relationship with Milan is a measure of loyalty and respect. Maldini is known to only one club

He has spent most of his career in Milanello with passion. His name in the hall of fame is one of the most respected names at the San Siro Museum. Even No. 3 is archived at AC Milan. Maldini's greatest characteristic was his ability to stop an attack without fault. All the big European teams begged to have Paolo, but neither the player nor his father wanted to transfer to another team.

Such loyalty from one of the best players in the history of football is very rare and unique, which is why the nickname "Il Capitano" is very fitting for Maldini. Stay tuned to read more about 

Paolo Maldini Biography

 and know more about him.

Goal Celebration

Nobody expected Paolo Maldini to score as he was a great defender, but as a great captain, he always came to the aid of his team in critical moments. Paolo Maldini used to show his punch and, as a sign of victory, he would call his teammates back to the pitch to start all over again and not be satisfied.

In fact, Paolo Maldini did not allow the AC Milan players to underestimate the opponent. One of the most beautiful scoring scenes of Paolo Maldini goes back to the 2005 Champions League final, when he opened the net against

in the first minutes on a pass from Andrea Pirlo. However, that match did not go well for Capitano.

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Paolo Maldini Outside Football

Maldini is a role model for all young players and even people. Young kids all around the world are taught the basics of the best, and when it comes to learning basic defensive skills, Maldini's attitude becomes the study subject. The left-backs have only one hero to follow and that hero is Paolo Maldini.

Although it has been almost 10 years since Maldini retired from football, this legend is still very popular among Milan fans. There is one unique thing about Maldini and that is his popularity among

and Inter Milan fans. Although Maldini was the rival of these teams, the fans of these teams always had a lot of respect for Maldini.

After retiring from football, Maldini decided to stay away from football for a few years, but finally returned to the management of Milan in the summer of 2018 and now continues to work as the technical and sports director of Milan. Stay tuned to read more about Paolo Maldini Biography and get to know him better.

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Paolo Maldini Personal Life

Adriana Elena Fossa Blanco, Paolo Maldini’s wife, comes from an important Venezuelan family. Adriana was in love with modeling and after high school decided to follow her dreams in Miami, USA. The couple met each other in a night club. After dating for a few years, on 14 December 1994, Paolo Maldini married Adriana Fossa. After the birth of their first child, Adriana decided to retire from modeling.

These days, Adriana holding shares in the company that manages the Sweet Years clothing brand which is founded by her husband and Christian Vieri. We should also note that 

Paolo Maldini religion

 is Christianity.

Family, Children and Relationships

Paolo Maldini and Adriana Blanco have two children, Christian and

, who both play football. Of course, Daniel is more talented than Christian and is currently playing in the first team of Milan. In fact, the Maldini generation in Milan is still going on. The interesting thing is that Daniel Maldini, contrary to family tradition, is a striker.

Both father and son are said to work at the Milan club, and even these days Daniel rides in his father's car when he returns home. In fact, Daniel Maldini is not happy with this situation, but what could be done? Paolo Maldini is unique in the world, and having a father like him definitely feels great.

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Philanthropy

Paolo Maldini has a very close relationship with charity stars; an organization that collects shirts and photos signed by celebrities and puts them up for auction and donates the money to homeless and abandoned children. This is a very saint act, and it's just one of the things that Paolo Maldini does.

Maldini has always been at the forefront of most good acts and has tried as much as he could to help improve the living conditions of homeless and poor children. Maldini even took part in the 11th UEFA-backed Match Against Poverty to give the profits from the sale of game tickets to the Orphans Protection Organization. No surprise, we said that Paolo Maldini is a unique man. Stay tuned to read more about 

Paolo Maldini Biography

 and see if he has had any legal issues so far or not.

Legal Issues

Once Paolo Maldini involved in a legal issue but that was nothing serious. A Milan prosecutor has called for the former AC Milan player and

captain Paolo Maldini to be sentenced to one year and eight months in jail for alleged corruption. Maldini, who retired from football in 2009 after 25-years with the Milan team, was accused of bribing a tax official and illegally accessing tax records at the Italian tax authority.

Along with a number of other businessmen, he allegedly paid off tax official Luciano Bressi to avoid tax checks and abused his position within the organization to guarantee a property deal in Tuscany. The case got underway in 2009 when Maldini was caught on a wiretap asking Bressi to undertake a tax check on another man over the Tuscan property deal but in the end, the case ended with no special proof.

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Paolo Maldini Career Statistics

902 official matches played and 26 trophies won in twenty-five years in Milan jersey. There are no expressions to describe the football career of Paolo Maldini who made his debut as a very young boy in Udine, on 20 January 1985, with coach Nils Liedholm on the bench. In 1997 he obtained the captain’s armband from Baresi and lifted new trophies with Zaccheroni and

. Without a bit of a doubt, Paolo Maldini is a legend in the history of football and he will remain so.

Club

Born in Milano, Paolo Maldini started his career at AC Milan's academy. Maldini was able to join the Milan first team at a young age, exactly when he was only 16 years old.

The Istanbul final was one of the most painful nights for Milan fans. While Maldini scored the fastest goal in the history of the Champions League final in the 1st minute and Milan ended the first half with an exceptional result of 3-0, in the second half, Liverpool shook things up and Milan finally lost to Liverpool on penalties.

Everyone in Milano was in shock but a revenge plan was on cards. revenge did not last long, and two years later the two teams met again in the final, this time in Athens, Greece. This time Rossoneri made no mistake and Maldini won his fifth and last Champions League trophy. Maldini became the best defender in the 2007 Champions League at the age of 38. History will never forget this level of professionalism.

International

Paolo Maldini's first appearance for Italy dates back to March 31, 1988, against the Soviet Union, which ended in a 1-1 draw. He captained the Azzurri from 1994 to 2002 and holds the Italian national team record with 126 caps, after Gianluigi Buffon (176 caps) and Fabio Cannavaro (136).

The peak of Paolo Maldini's career with Italy was his participation in the 1994 World Cup final (defeat to Brazil) and the 2000 European Cup final (defeat to France). In the 1990 World Cup in Italy, they were eliminated in the semi-finals against

, finishing third in the World Cup. In total, Maldini played for the Azzurri in four World Cups in 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002, and even participated in three European Cups in 1988, 1996, and 2000.

From 1996 to 1998, he played for the Italian national team under his father, Cesare Maldini. Paolo Maldini resigned from the national team after the bad luck of Italy in the 2002 World Cup, which was eliminated in the round of 16 after losing to South Korea, and rejected the invitation of the team's coaches for the 2004 World Cup and the 2006 World Cup. Stay tuned to read more about Paolo Maldini Biography and find out what awards and titles he has won.

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Paolo Maldini Honors

Maldini has won numerous titles, including the European Club Cup, and has won numerous league titles and trophies during his playing career. Paolo is also known as the most honorable defender in the history of European Cups.

Seven Scudetto titles, five Champions League titles, one Coppa Italia title, five Champions League titles, and Italian Super Cups, as well as three Club World Cups, are titles that have made him a serious contender against the best players in the history of European football.

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