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For two decades, Italian legend Paolo Maldini, representing the "Milan" club and winning the Champions League for the fifth time, stated that despite his age, he is not ready to end his career and expressed his desire to continue winning victories.
P. Maldini participated in the Champions League final for the eighth time and after taking the trophy from UEFA president Michel Platini, joined the legendary players who managed to win the tournament twice as captains.
"I want to play for the Intercontinental Cup and try to win the Champions League again. This is my fifth victory, but they are always beautiful. I am lucky to play in a great team that allows me to forget failures. It must be admitted that all possible disappointments are outweighed by the joys that this club has given me," said the already legendary defender.
It was thought that P. Maldini would retire after this season, but the footballer insisted on wanting to continue playing at the highest level: "It would be a good way to end everything now, but I want to play in December for the Intercontinental Cup, compete for another season and try to win the Champions League again."
Not as rich as P. Maldini, but adding to his increasing trophy collection was another defender, Massimo Oddo, who, along with his club teammates Alessandro Nesta, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Alberto Gilardino, and Fillippo Inzaghi, representing the Italian national team last summer also won the World Cup.
According to M. Oddo, believing in victory for the team was made possible by the quarterfinal match against Bayern Munich. The first leg of the match at "San Siro" stadium ended with a 2-2 draw, but the victory in the second leg with a score of 2-0 allowed the Italian club to advance.
"Before the second leg match in Munich, I talked to Massimo Ambrosini and we decided that if we win, we can also win the Champions League trophy. Fortunately, we were right. The year was truly fantastic - I won both the World Cup and the Champions League. Better could not have been. To be honest, I wouldn't feel like a complete world champion, because I only played for about 20 minutes, but I was always ready and tried to be useful. It was an amazing experience," said the player.
In Athens, M. Oddo played the full 90 minutes and was a key player until the final, but he joined "Milan" only in January after a long negotiation period transitioning from the Roma "Lazio" club.
"I want to thank the coach and team mates for helping me settle in the team right away. It's not easy to move to a big club in the middle of the season and adapt to their system. I also want to thank the "Lazio" club, because if it weren't for this team, maybe I wouldn't be here," said Oddo.
Kaka, the star of "Milan," who became the most productive player in the Champions League with 10 goals, when asked if he was afraid of a repeat of the two-year-old final history when Dirk Kuyt scored a goal in the penultimate minute, he answered negatively.
"Without a doubt - no. We knew that if we played that Istanbul match a thousand times over, it wouldn't happen again. So after today's goal, I knew it wouldn't happen again. I have always said that any prizes are the result of what I do with the team. Today, "Milan" performed excellently," reassured the Brazilian.
Meanwhile, the combative "Milan" defender Gennaro Gattuso, as always, spoke openly and took the opportunity to respond to critics: "This will teach those who said that Italian football is in crisis. In a year, we won the World Cup and the Champions League. Not a bad crisis, right? That loss two years ago will be with us forever. This is another trophy. Today we celebrate, and "Liverpool" cries, just like we cried in 2005."
