Il Fiko™ Casa Targaryen

Carlo Ancelotti on Paolo Maldini: "Every time we won, we'd embrace each other. Sometimes I went to him, sometimes he came to me. What made Paolo special was that he always said, 'Thank you.' After every victory, he had two rituals. First, he'd take off the captain's armband and place it on top of his locker. Then he'd go around the dressing room, shaking everyone's hand and thanking them. I'd never seen a player with charisma like his. On the day of his final match in Florence, he hugged me goodbye. At that moment, I realised the soul of my Milan was leaving. That's what great men are made of. Paolo was the leader of that team. If a player made a mistake or behaved badly, he didn't need to shout. One look was enough. Even players from other teams respected him. I don't remember anyone ever saying a bad word to him. There were champions like Seedorf, Nesta and Shevchenko, but when the captain gave them a look, they listened. If someone arrived late for training, they knew they had to explain themselves to Paolo before they even spoke to me. One day I asked him, 'Paolo, how do you do it?' He replied, 'I do it to show everyone who comes here that you should never let your guard down, even when you're nearly 40. I'm the captain, so I have to be the first to set the example.' AC Milan won trophies because we had great players. But above all, we had a soul. That soul was called Paolo Maldini." ❤️🖤