Left back: Paolo Maldini
By Zito
If the left backs are the real men of the pitch, then the Clint Eastwood of the position is surely the greatest left back of all time to me, Paolo Maldini. If the word class was still pure in it’s definition rather than watered down and ineffective after being thrown around so carelessly, it would be synonymous with Maldini. It is synonymous with Maldini. Twenty five years of top level football, a one club man, over sixteen years in the Italian national team and he has the nerve, the nerve to win Uefa’s best defender trophy at the ungodly age of 39. This man has clearly found the fountain of youth and refuses to share, not because he’s selfish, no he’s too classy for that, he’s not sharing because he understands that age and death is necessary and natural and that the fountain of youth would throw the world into chaos. Yes that’s the kind of man he is, always thinking of others before himself.
No statistic or comparison can actually do justice to what an influence Maldini was, and this is not “influence” as in “too old to really contribute but can still be a leader in the locker room”, Maldini played every single one of his 902 matches for Milan as if it was his first, shutting down forwards, stealing the ball right from their feet rather than recklessly lunging in like some sort of De Jong creature, and in the latter part of his career, forming the formidable hair trio with Nesta and Pirlo. He may have never been an inhuman rocket powered train like Roberto Carlos but there was not one thing he didn’t do, attack, defense, midfield sideways passes, elegantly brushing his hair back after another tumble with some misguided forward who probably read his fortune wrong thinking that he could bamboozle II Capitano with his fancy step-overs and cutbacks.
There is a sad part to this beautiful story, barring the respect and admiration of everyone who played with him and/or against him, the most perfect defender never won anything with his national team. If that makes you feel sad, remember this, he won five Champion League trophies with Milan and numerous other trophies that he would probably disregard as nothing compared to wearing the Milan shirt and the captain’s armband because that’s just what he does. Class.
The definition of what a captain should be, I’ve always believed the best captains should be defenders because they’re usually the meanest dogs in the park, they should instill fear in the opponent and their own teammates but more out of respect than anything, plus they have a very good view of the game rivaled only by the manager and the goalkeepers. Maldini was all of this, he was mean in his ruthless efforts to halt all who went to his side, no one was allowed to pass, forwards often recall him to being similar to Gandalf the Wizard. He was widely respected by teammates and opponents alike, Nesta, Kaka, Del Piero, Baggio, Alex Ferguson even named him as his favorite player. Plus, he was a like-able and fair captain, not the might be leaving to Barcelona type, or the banging his best friend’s wife type, or even my favorite, the diving Roman thumb sucking type.
From 16 years old to 40 years young, perfect defender, impeccable captain, devourer of forwards, Milanese symbol, Paolo Maldini, Real Man! My favorite left back and all around defender, so good Inter cloned him and renamed him Zanetti.
