"The last derby."

Roma Sport used such a front-page headline to welcome Milan's 270th derby. On the day of the match, Paolo Maldini finally 'stolen' the limelight from Balotelli. At the end of the season, Maldini finally decided to retire and leave the football stage.

The tone of this round of the Milan derby is not about the title race, but about one person. The 270th Milan derby in history, the 56th of Maldini's career, and the last. The 40-year-old is expected to join Nesta in the middle of the pack after a 75-day break.

An excerpt from Maldini's lengthy interview in today's edition of Roma Sport: "Sunday will be my last derby, and from the second round of the league will be my last time playing against each team. It also makes me feel a little proud, but it never makes me sad. Maybe emotionally traumatic, but the derby is always so special. What would I dream of in the last derby? It may be a bit banal to say that we want to win, but winning is the only hope and it will help us to keep fighting for the league title. ”

Despite being nine points away from Inter Milan at the top of the table, Maldini believes the league title is a hope. 'If we can win the derby, then the points gap becomes six points and with 14 rounds left in the league, who knows what will happen in the future?'

'The Milan derby is always unusual, we have a lot of players who can solve the problem, Pato is in very good form at the moment, and Ronaldinho and, don't forget Seedorf, he has a different role in this kind of focus battle. David Beckham may not be good enough as a player, but he's smart enough to solve every problem......"

Then Martinho also talked about the toughest opponent of his career.

Maldini said: "Maradona is the best opponent I have ever faced, followed by Michele Platini, who is very strong. Then there is Ronaldo during the Milan period. At that time, Ronnie was very fast, good in technique, and knew how to score goals, and finally there was China Dong, he was different from the previous three opponents, he was not as crazy and gorgeous as the previous three, but he could always use the easiest way to send the ball into the goal. ”

The praise from the opponent is the highest honor for a player's strength, and Dong Fangzhuo also gave Maldini a very high evaluation at the press conference before the game.

"Recognised as one of the best left-backs in the world, Maldini has left a legacy in international football with a strong personality in addition to first-class defensive skills. On the court, he rarely argues with the referee and rarely fouls his opponents. In the game, he can perfectly combine pressing marks and card positions, he is clear-headed, accurate in judgment, effective, clean but not rough, and has a sharp assist on the left side, which is an opponent that all strikers in the world do not want to touch, including me. ”

"As the world's No. 1 left-back, no matter how good a striker is in the game, he doesn't want to break through Maldini. He is clear-headed, has strong judgment, does not jam people, and does not invade people and foul people. He's been fighting on the pitch for so many years, and he's never had a striker kicked or injured by him. He is the absolute spiritual leader of the team. ”

"Maybe a lot of people think that I have a big advantage against Maldini, but the truth is that I am a young man in my 20s and I am going to fight a 40-year-old uncle, and if I am still behind, then I am not qualified to stay at Inter Milan, if he is ten years younger, I think I will cry on the turf, although I am an Inter player, but that does not prevent me from showing my supreme respect for him."

As early as two years ago, before the Milan derby, it was rumored that it would be Maldini's last Milan derby. But in fact, two seasons later, AC Milan's flag is still active at the San Siro, and it is still an indispensable defensive backbone and spiritual leader of AC Milan in the derby. Maldini has now played in 55 Milan derbies, and in the 100-year history of Milan derby, Maldini has been played in more than 20 of the games.

But no matter how immortal the legend is, it will eventually bow its head in front of the long river of time. The 40-year-old Milan captain has defended the Rossoneri's honour with his loyalty for more than 20 years. Now it's really time for him to say goodbye. There is no doubt that in the summer of 2009, Maldini will truly say goodbye to the green field, and this spring Milan derby is destined to be Maldini's last show in the world's most exciting race.

Unfortunately, this is Inter Milan's home stadium, and Maldini may not be able to enjoy the tsunami of the tsunami at the San Siro Mountain, but even the fans of the city's rivals should pay the highest tribute to the great player who wrote an era for AC Milan and Italy. No one will be jealous that Maldini has left Bergomi's record of 44 Milan derby appearances far behind, but instead everyone will applaud the great figure of 56.

Rarely, this time the Milan derby was not so noisy before the game, and people forgot about the jokes made by Balotelli and forgot about the feud between the two teams for a while......

"Hey, Paul." In the tunnel of the players, Inter Milan captain Zanetti took the initiative to give Maldini a hug.

"Javier." Maldini was a little agitated and gently patted Zanetti on the back......

Silence is better than sound at this point.

The hug from the two captains of Milan quickly infected the emotions of the two men, and then every Inter Milan player went over to say hello to Maldini.

Dong Fangzhuo was the last to walk over, Maldini deliberately squinted his eyes, looked at Dong Fangzhuo, and spit out a few words for a long time, "I will do my best to prevent you." ”

"I'm sorry, but I'll do everything I can to disappoint you, and I hope to be able to give you the deepest gift, the greatest respect from my opponent."

Maldini: ......

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Because it is the home stadium of Inter, the stadium in Milan tonight is called the Meazza Stadium, and the cheers of the Inter fans can be heard outside the players' tunnel.

Both Maldini and Zanetti walked slowly but firmly.

As soon as he walked out of the passage, Maldini's eyes instantly blurred, and in his clear eyes, there seemed to be sand running in......

Because he saw the Inter fans in the stands with the slogan "You have been our opponent for 20 years, but in life you are a loyal servant". ”

Obviously, this slogan is dedicated to Maldini, and if there is one person in world football that can be respected by all fans, it can only be Maldini.

Alas, where will I be when I retire one day? Looking at the long slogan, Dong Fangzhuo seemed to be touched, he thought that he would play at Manchester United for a lifetime, but he didn't expect that he would drift to Inter Milan, fate is really ungraspable, thinking of his possible fate in more than ten years, he can't help but feel a little sentimental.

"I remember when CCTV started broadcasting Serie A, it was one"

※※※※

"The last Milan derby for the horse team, alas, I want to cry."

"Cry, don't bring me such negative emotions, although I mean it, but even I want to cry. It's not a human death, what do you think, he's just retiring, he's going to be in AC Milan management in the future, maybe he'll go to China often in the future. ”

……

"Paul, I love you!"

"Paul, you will always be the captain of Milan!"

“……”

Live room.

"Alas, today is such a sad day."

"More than 20 years have passed in the blink of an eye......"

Eh, Huang Jianxiang was slightly stunned, it was rare for Director Zhang not to say 'hehe' today, maybe he was really sad, he was silent for a moment, and his tone was a little heavy.

"There will always be a day of it, but Maldini's legend continues, but in a different role. Today is just his last Milan derby, not the day of retirement. ”

When he said this, in fact, Huang Jianxiang's eyes were also a little moist, but he tilted his head slightly and wiped away his tears.

"I remember that CCTV started the highlights of Serie A in 1988, which is the beginning of paying attention to Serie A, can it be regarded as the year when the broadcast began? Probably not yet. In 1989, CCTV recorded the entire Serie A game every other week, which may be regarded as the beginning of the broadcast of Serie A. It wasn't until 1994 that live streaming of Serie A matches began, which was the beginning of a milestone sports broadcast. ”

Zhang Lu's thoughts drifted back to more than 20 years ago, as if he saw his younger self sitting in the live broadcast room commenting on the Serie A game......

"It was in 1988 that Maldini was first seen in the Champions League, but in fact, he made his debut in 1985 and did not appear in the Champions League until 1988."

"I watched him go from a teenager, to a young man, and then to middle age."

Yes! Old thing, can't you not turn over history at this time? Isn't it really sad enough? Huang Jianxiang secretly felt sorry in his heart. Not only Zhang Lu knows these histories, but he Huang Jianxiang also knows it clearly!

Sadness climbed on Huang Jianxiang's cheeks again, but his heart was blocked, he didn't know how to vent this feeling, if the game didn't start, he would probably be brought to cry by Zhang Lu's feelings......

Maldini was wearing the captain's armband with the "UNESCO badge" on it, hugging each of his teammates before the kick-off. And when picking the side, Maldini also took the initiative to hug Inter captain Zanetti......

The sense of farewell became thick again.

"Well, I'm really not used to this kind of scene."

"Am I really old?"

"After watching the derby for decades, I didn't expect that one day I would want to cry."