Still Marvel in the Wake of a Colossus

Oh Captain, my captain, we are getting old, aren’t we!?

A few days after Captain Maldini was done with playing for good, this here writer started to actively participate in Goal.com’s forums after lurking for a long while. Good memories, good friends.
Four years on, his absence is felt as much as back then, if not more, seeing that we are far inferior to what we were with him around.

Players, usually, are meant to start, peak, pale, spend a while on the periphery of proceedings and then, hang up the boots.

Not Paolo Maldini.

One game was enough for the 16-year-old son of former central defender Cesare Maldini to prove his worth and in the space of a few months, he became indispensable, peerless, and indomitable. Never to look back, mind you.

For 24 years, season in season out, the natural born boss of them all, took to the field as number one in his business, and when he felt like stopping at 41 years of age, he’d just performed above any other defender in the 2008-09 Serie-A campaign and was selected, out of anything but bias and affection, in the team of the year.

Well, that’s just half the story. Less even.

Granted, what Maldini was to the average Football fan, was a top defender, an athletic, smart, talented player who simply ridiculously, made no mistake, ever.

But to us, the Milanisti, he was ‘that’ leader. I mean, he was “The Man”. The One.

A member of Associazione Calcio Milan since 1977, he had a father who’d lifted the European cup as club captain in 1963, and he was always going to be downgraded by ignorants comparing him to his brilliant father. Now, to come out of the shadow of a giant, surpass him dramatically, and quite ironically, put him under your colossal shadow… That’s the stuff of legends.

Paolo Maldini is just that: A legend.

I am a Maldini fan, thru and thru, all the way. Everybody knows that much by now. And I’m goddamn proud of it.
He wasn’t the scorer Messi is, wasn’t blessed with the incredible health and fitness of Javier Zanetti, didn’t look unbelievable on the ball like Zidane did, and he rarely won important individual awards…
But he was better than all those and all that. He was our captain, the Milan captain, isn’t that enough, and then some?

The first time I wrote about him, I was 19. Now I’m 23, and having been through a crazy lot, I can say that the love and respect hasn’t faded, and he’s even more of an inspiring figure to me.

When I get old, I’ll tell my grandchildren that yes, yes, I saw Ronaldinho, Messi, Zidane and the rest of the gang.
But, more importantly, I saw that quiet, elegant man with such presence, such aura, with an armband tied forever to his sleeve, with that iconic number 3 on his back, and you know what? He shined.


Happy 45th birthday Captain.

You were the best. You will not happen again.
And, sure as night follows day, my all-time favorite player will never change.

Happy birthday God

We've seen almost all of the other legends most of us grew up adoring as kids retiring , or leaving the club .. but none of them comes close to Maldini . His last game was one of the saddest moments i have from football and certainly one from the few i'll never forget.

Not long ago , a good friend of mine asked me what's the best player to ever play for Milan . I said Maldini . I said to him , if you saw a player like Maldini play week in week out , you'd know.

I told him that , Maldini wasn't just a legend of the club. It wasn't the armband that made him who he is . Not even his unlimited quality in defence . For me , he is still something even more than all that.

He is living history i told him . The player that was there in almost every single glory in Milan's golden era in football. Whatever player you can throw at me , anyone , it fades in comparison to what Maldini means to a Milan fan. If ever Milan was a player , that would be Maldini.

As soon as i saw the title of this topic i knew it was from Iras. Welcome back.

Happy birthday to one and only Paolo Maldini.