And now the sad news. Apparently Maldini never pandered to the Ultras during his career and they booed him in his final home game and held up a banner with Baresi's number.
Paolo Maldini bows out at Milan with jeers in his earsPaolo Maldini played his final game at San Siro and got a shocking reception from some of the supporters Paolo Maldini contemplates the end of his 25 years as a Milan player. Photograph: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
Five European Cups, seven Scudetti, three intercontinental titles, five European Super Cups, and a Coppa Italia. Over the course of 25 years (30 if you include his apprenticeship), Paolo Maldini has helped Milan win everything there is to win. And then to do it all over again. Few have drawn such widespread admiration from team-mates and opponents alike. "Quite simply the best there is," was the description used by the Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero this week. Last month Sir Alex Ferguson named the defender as his "favourite" player on any team that he had managed against.
Sadly it seems that the only place such opinions are not shared is on San Siro's own curva sud. Yesterday Maldini made his 900th appearance for Milan, leading them out against Roma in his last match at San Siro and perhaps also his last anywhere. At the outset he was applauded by a capacity crowd, while Roma's players emerged from the tunnel in shirts carrying the slogan "Thanks Paolo, great captain". But by the end the voices of dissent had begun to make themselves heard.
"Thanks captain. On the pitch you were an undying champion but you had no respect for those who made you rich," read one of the banners prepared by Ultras. "For your 25 years of glorious service you have the thanks of those who you called mercenaries and misers," read another. If the message was not necessarily scathing, it was certainly pointed. Next came a giant Milan shirt bearing the number six and accompanied by the words "There is only one captain, [Franco] Baresi".
What was supposed to be a day of festivity quickly soured. Milan were beaten 3-2, and could yet lose third place to next weekend's opponents Fiorentina, but it was not for the result that Maldini left the pitch with a face like thunder. "I am proud to be nothing like them," he said of the supporters who had goaded him a small minority, it must be said, but enough to make themselves heard as he departed. Exactly 20 years earlier, on 24 May 1989, many of those same fans would have been praising Maldini as he collected his first European Cup winners' medal after a 4-0 trouncing of Steaua Bucharest.
Gazzetta dello Sport described the scene as surreal but to those unfamiliar with the finer points of Milan's recent history, it might even have seemed an outright shocking one. Maldini, after all, is everything a supporter could wish for the longest-serving one-club man in history, talented but also a grafter and a man who only ever appears in the newspapers for the right reasons. Just about the only things known about his private life is that he is married to his sweetheart from his teenage years, Adriana Fossa, and that he owns over 100 pairs of jeans.
Nor does Maldini carry around any great sense of self-importance. Many commentators and pundits have lamented the fact that he never won a Ballon D'or, but the player himself has always shrugged and acknowledged that such awards usually go to forwards. His reaction to being named player of the year by World Soccer magazine in 1996 was one of faint bewilderment. Indeed, he actually named Baresi, Milan's captain at the time, in his acceptance speech as the one defender who truly did deserve such an accolade.
But the one thing that Maldini has never done is kowtow to fan opinion, and it is for this alone that a more selfish element resent him. When Milan supporters caused a game between the Rossoneri and Parma to be suspended for more than five minutes by throwing oranges and other objects on to the field during their miserable 199798 season, Maldini was publicly critical of their behaviour. After Milan won the league the following year, he retired quickly to the dressing room to celebrate with Alessandro Costacurta instead of staying out to thank the fans.
That was not the only occasion on which he refused to condone supporter protests, but the fact that such instances are remembered at all reflects only on the pettiness of such fans. Maldini has only ever been interested in winning, and if anything his objection to such actions is a reflection of his belief that they do nothing to help his team do exactly that.
Maldini wasn't the only one to come under attack at San Siro, however, and the fact that he did at all was undoubtedly also an indicator of the growing frustration among supporters about the general direction in which the club is currently moving. A far greater percentage of the critical banners on display at San Siro were aimed at Silvio Berlusconi rather than Maldini, as the club's owner was criticised for wasting his money on "cons and trading cards". It is no secret that Milan are in significant debt, and the fear that they will sell Kakΰ to Real Madrid this summer is palpable.
Such a departure would doubtless be a disaster for a side that have leaned heavily on the Brazilian this season. But not nearly as sad as seeing one of the greatest defenders of all-time leave the club he dedicated his entire career to with taunts and whistles in his ears.
Round 37 talking points
Ciro Ferrara got off to the ideal start after taking over as Juventus's caretaker, leading his team to a 3-0 win over Siena. Ferrara, the head of the club's academy, has already said that he would like to take the role on a permanent basis but Bari's manager Antonio Conte remains the favourite to take over.
Jose Mourinho said on Thursday he is 99.9% certain to stay at Internazionale despite interest from Real Madrid. So who can blame Zlatan Ibrahimovic from saying exactly the same when asked about his own future yesterday? "I'm 99.9% staying," said Ibra after scoring Inter's only goal in a 2-1 defeat to Cagliari. That strike makes him Serie A's joint top-scorer, along with Bologna's Marco Di Vaio, on 23 goals.
The penultimate round of games in Serie B was overshadowed by tragedy, as 19-year-old Vicenza fan Eugenio Bortolon died after falling from the stands during his team's 4-0 defeat to Parma. Before the incident the mood had been a festive one, as Vicenza had already secured their season's aim of avoiding relegation, while Parma had already been promoted back to Serie A. The game was paused for 20 minutes before the players, on hearing that Bortolon had reached hospital and was - at the time - in a stable condition, simply passed the ball among themselves to play out the remaining minutes.
Results: Atalanta 22 Palermo, Cagliari 21 Internazionale, Catania 31 Napoli, Chievo 0-0 Bologna, Lazio 10 Reggina, Lecce 11 Fiorentina, Milan 23 Roma, Sampdoria 22 Udinese, Siena 03 Juventus, Torino 23 Genoa.
