[dst]

It should not be moved to the past players section. Baresi's, Costacurta's and Maldini's threads should all be here as stickies in my view.

[Ro Rossonera]

I agree with you ^^

[dst]

On the other hand, Shevchenko's thread should be moved there! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Ro Rossonera]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh2.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbup.gif) Once again I agree with you

[Fillipo Simone]

Naah, this thread also should be moved, since both Baresi and Costacurta already wait for Paolo to join,..

[dst]

Bring them both back and stick them on the top!! I think we should vote on this.

[Rossoneri7]

Yesterday was a very sad day, towards the end of the game, the passes between Maldini and Nesta really moved me.

It only hit me hard when I saw him walk into that tunnel; knowing full well that the iconic figure of the team I came to love has left for good (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

I can't imagine Milan without Paolo .. Forecasting to the future, Milan wont be the same in my eyes. A mammoth of a pillar has just stepped down (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

[6Best]

Yesterday was a very sad day, towards the end of the game, the passes between Maldini and Nesta really moved me.

It only hit me hard when I saw him walk into that tunnel; knowing full well that the iconic figure of the team I came to love has left for good (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

I can\'t imagine Milan without Paolo .. Forecasting to the future, Milan wont be the same in my eyes. A mammoth of a pillar has just stepped down (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

True , well said .

This would not be the same Milan anymore , there will be a BIG CHANGE .

For a few matches it would be so..............different to see Milan without Maldini , also with Carlo gone and a few players sitting on the bench ( S...... ) , it will be difficult to get used to it .

Truly , Maldini = Milan ; Maldini can't be spelt without Milan , its so bad / heartening / different / emotional / astonishing etc , ect , etc to see him leaving , why can\'t he stay forever .

But sadly though , things do come to an end . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

This post has been edited by 6Best: Jun 1 2009, 03:15 PM

[Minami]

Bring them both back and stick them on the top!! I think we should vote on this.

you should start/open a poll then (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

It only hit me hard when I saw him walk into that tunnel; knowing full well that the iconic figure of the team I came to love has left for good sad.gif

I had the same emotions...that he will never ever go on the pitch in a Milan shrit...just too sad to even think about it.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

[Tennie]

The Viola tifosi really surpassed themselves on Sunday. They gave him an ovation spontaneously when he came out to warm up. And then another just before the beginning of the game - a long one there, with everyone standing. And then another at the end of the game. It was the sort of reception he should have gotten the previous weekend.

There were a lot of articles in Italian papers too. I brought back one ad, by Nike, that appeared in Sunday's Gazzetta -- it included a lot of quotes about Maldini and then at the bottom a phrase 'All of football is at your feet. So are we'.

(One of the best quotes is by Giacinto Fachetti, the former cugini legend, who said 'The only negative thing that could possibly be said about Maldini is that he played for Milan'.)

I'll also note that the postgame dedication after the CL final by Pep Guardiola (saw that live, was watching the game on RAI) has made both me and Fishdoll Barca fans.

[Zed.D]

I'll also note that the postgame dedication after the CL final by Pep Guardiola (saw that live, was watching the game on RAI) has made both me and Fishdoll Barca fans.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I'm sorry for myself, I've started to like Barca too! mostly because of Pep and Iniesta Messi and Xavi.

[dst]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I'm sorry for myself, I've started to like Barca too! mostly because of Pep and Iniesta Messi and Xavi.

What's the reason you did not like Barcelona in the first place? Because they're Madrid's rivals?

[Zed.D]

What's the reason you did not like Barcelona in the first place? Because they're Madrid's rivals?

Kind of!

[Tennie]

(from Channel 4. Finally a decent blog)

Blog: Dear Paolo…
In this open letter to Paolo Maldini, Giovanni Spinella pays tribute to the Milan and Italy legend

By the time you read this letter your career as a professional footballer will be over.

Words like legend and historic have been cheapened by over-use, but to you they apply in full. You have truly been a legendary player and your career has been historic. It encompassed the years of Italian football’s emergence, from a minor League to masters of Europe. And if the Premiership and La Liga now dispute that crown, Serie A are still contenders in no small part thanks to players such as you.

Incredibly for a modern footballer you have only ever worn two jerseys, the red and black shirt of Milan and the blue kit of Italy. With those first colours you have won everything, from national titles to European and Intercontinental Cups. With the second set, you came agonisingly close in that cursed penalty shoot-out in Los Angeles back in 1994.

What I call history you call life. To you Diego Armando Maradona isn’t a player seen on a video, he is a scar on your ankle after a tackle when you tried – not always successfully – to take the ball from him.

To you Lothar Matthaus is a faded cut from a challenge in a Milan derby. To you Roberto Baggio is a fit of dizziness as he slalomed across the pitch forcing you to chase him. To you Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, George Weah and Jean-Pierre Papin are teammates with whom you’d argue and incite on the pitch and laugh over a meal. And Franco Baresi is your captain, even after he hung up his boots and the armband passed to you.

You were never my captain, Paolo, my love went to other colours, but you were always respected, admired and occasionally cursed when you would thwart my own team’s attempts. And when you put on Italy’s colours, I could cheer you unreservedly.

On Monday morning when I’d argue the latest results with my friends at school or in university your name would always be there, either as a symbol or as a feared and respected adversary. And whenever you were mentioned the girls – usually uninterested in “the boys’ sport” – would sigh in appreciation of your good looks, causing quite some envy amongst us awkward teens.

The next time you tread San Siro it will be as a member of Milan’s staff. Will it seem odd for you to not have to change out of your suit and warm up? Will looking at the pitch from the perspective of the dug-out seem slightly unnatural?

It must be hard for you to step down now, as your decades-long rivals at Inter are dominating. No doubt there is a warrior within who still wants to return to battle. Who knows, maybe one day you will follow the path that Carlo and Ruud and Marco and Frank and Roberto have taken? Having led men on the field, will you choose to lead them from the dugout?

In saying goodbye to Maldini the player, I also say goodbye to one of the last lingering threads of my own childhood. As long as you were playing I could pretend I was still that youth in the schoolyard. But now even that small conceit is denied to me.

You have years ahead of you Paolo, in which you can choose new goals for your life. We all wish you well. But Maldini the player – the last man ever to wear a Milan jersey with the No 3 – now leaves San Siro forever to assume his rightful place in the starting XI of legends.

[TriniKing_CE]

from acmilan.com:

MALDINI: 'I thank the city of Florence and the Viola public for the standing ovation'
6/2/2009

MILAN - Paolo Maldini again: "I thank the city of Florence and the Viola public for the standing ovation, which I appreciated a lot. It was nice to be applauded by the entire stadium: I ended my career like I wanted. I'm happy about the manifestations of affection I received, both before and after the game. I will always carry with me the moments of two days ago." And on his future: "Now I go on holiday, then when I return in September we'll see how we'll re-organize my life." (ANSA).