Paolo Maldini was booed by some sections of the crowd in his final home game for AC Milan, but his last game in a Rossoneri shirt provided a fitting ending to a legend.
For any football fan, the name Paolo Maldini will probably strike a very special chord. A one-club man all his career, young Paolo basically followed in the footsteps of his father Cesare and when it was time to wave goodbye to the game, he’d picked up 26 major honors with the Rossoneri, including five Champions League titles, seven Serie A winners medals, five UEFA Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups, and a solitary FIFA Club World Cup title.
In the game’s sixth anniversary, Forza Italian Football recap Maldini’s farewell and what exactly made it so special.
On May 31 2009, it was time to bid Milan and football farewell, however Maldini had the task of putting one last great performance in a Rossoneri shirt to ensure automatic Champions League qualification.
The task was tough, especially for Maldini who was – surprisingly for many – booed by some sections of Milan’s ardent supporters group, Curva Sud, in his final game at the Stadio Meazza a week earlier.
They put up a banner that read: ‘For your glorious 25-year career, heartfelt thanks from those you branded mercenaries and mangy’, referring to several incidents which saw both collide – the most significant being an episode which occurred after the side’s penalty shootout defeat to Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League final which came in spite of the Rossoneri leading 3-0.
Not only that, but Maldini also silenced the Curva Sud when they were booing the side after their UEFA Cup exit to Werder Bremen earlier that year, as well as showing his annoyance at the Curva’s boos in games against Parma and Atalanta in 1997-98 and 2007-08, respectively.
The Curva didn’t stop there as they had a banner which paid homage to club legend and ex-skipper Franco Baresi, proceeding to chant: “there is only one captain”.
“We would like to clarify that our banners were not in protest, but we wanted to point out the behaviour that the player displayed several times during his career towards the fans,” Curva Sud leader ‘Baron’ said following the game.
“I am proud to not be one of them,” Maldini said after the game that not only saw him get booed but also witnessed the Rossoneri endure a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Roma, meaning a loss by more than a two goal margin against Fiorentina would ultimately cost Milan their automatic Champions League place on head-to-head.
On May 31, Maldini led Il Diavolo out for one last time amidst a sea of applause from the Viola faithful at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, all witnessed by his wife, children, and a teary-eyed Cesare.
It was all about him, he was being embraced by the squad and Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastian Frey, whose teammates were also giving Maldini a round of applause.
However, Maldini knew there was no room for mistake and that he had to nullify the effect of the Fiorentina attacking line and lead a side that hadn’t won in three games to victory, or else risk entering the Champions League from the qualification round, and end the season with a disappointment.
The skipper though was spotless as the Rossoneri went on to win the game 2-0 courtesy of goals from Kaka and Alexandre Pato. A match in which Fiorentina were unable to expose Maldini’s left-flank.
After all that happened one week earlier, it was a fitting end to Maldini’s 24-year Milan career. Applauded by his own fans and rival fans and players alike, played real well, and the Rossoneri had secured automatic Champions League qualification, thus ending the season on a high note.
