Paolo Maldini And Franco Baresi : When The Rossonerri Goal Was Closed For Business

As you see in the title, Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi were two the best in the business if not the best. This pair went on to make one of the greatest teams in history. And they were insanely good. How good you might say. Even though Paolo Maldini played on left back for a huge part of his career. And he did excel in that position. But they did play together in the middle of the defense. Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini together as a center back pairing played roughly 196 games. How many goals they concede? 23. Yes, twenty three. That is about 1 goal in every nine games. Insane stat. AC Milan were always famous for producing world class and legendary defenders. But these two were just different gravy. Starting off with the one who came first, Franco Baresi.

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Franco Baresi was about 5 feet 9. Not a very tall person. His lacking in height was never an issue though. In the youth phase he was rejected by Inter Milan. So AC Milan took him in, after they noticed the talent this skinny kid possessed. Baresi had speed, agility, strength. And most of all, the genuine awareness of defending. Making it look like a piece of cake. During his time he was literally the best defender in the world. His brilliant tactical awareness let him maintain a very tight high line and often go through a whole game without doing a proper tackle, yet giving no chance to the opposition. Pretty amazing. Paolo Maldini idolized Baresi throughout his playing career. In his eyes, Baresi was the best defender ever. Very high praise, and the man was all about that. Baresi was a Libero. Libero is a ball playing center back. His passing ability and range of passes and his overall quality in carrying the ball from the defense to midfield, rivalled many of the better midfielders of that time. Baresi started off his Milan career with the number 6. Baresi's career started on a high but then Milan would go on a bumpy ride. Uncharacteristic relegations. 11 Milan players and their president were jailed for match fixing in 1980. They were relegated to serie B. Then immediately came back to the serie A and fell down again, only to rise back again in 1984. During this time, Milan lost many talents because of these relegations. But Baresi wasn't one of them. His loyalty was rewarded when he was chosen to lead the Rossonerri at the age of 22. Milan had a few patchy years under Baresi. But in the late 80s, things changed. Milan was then home to stars like Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, and Franc Rijkaard. Along with the legendary Arrigo Sacchi. This would be the beginning of the greatest era Milanese history.

This is the time when the other piece of that iconic duo comes into the picture. Paolo Maldini, son of Cesare Maldini. A European winner and a domestic winner and Milan legend by his own rights. Maldini was about to follow and surpass his father. His first team debut was at just 16 years of age. In the dawn of career he started as a right back. Quite obviously, his strong foot was also his right foot. But his control on both feet and versatility, he was deployed on the left side of the defense. Partly because of thus versatility of his, and partly because of the then senior right back, Mauro Tassotti. Maldini did dominate the left back position. Even though it wasn't preferably his strong side. Standing at 6 feet 2, Paolo was deceptive. He was faster than he looked, and he was trickier than he looked. Which only let him get even better in his game at left back. He was elegant on the ball, a strong tackler when needed. And a very intelligent defender. His defensive awareness was top notch. His ability to sniff out the danger before it's even there has been a headache for many an opposition attacker. Interceptions and winning the ball, first class in every department. Sounds very familiar. Where did we see these traits before? Franco Baresi. By the time Paolo became a regular alongside Franco, Milan were about done with their rebuild and it was all systems go. This team would go on and win back to back champions league titles in 1989 and 1990. And winning the scudetto a few times along the way. All the while conceding lower than 20 goals a season on multiple occasions. Then Sacchi left and Capello came. Who only made this team better. Between 1992-1994, Milan won the scudetto thrice in a row. And finished invincible in the 1991/92 season by conceding just 21 goals. And they played three champions league finals between 1993 and 1995, only to win it once. In the national team too, when Paolo and Franco played together. Italy conceded 0 goals until the semi finals in the 1990 world cup.

Then at 1997 after a vastly illustrious career, Franco Baresi called it quits. And with him, his iconic number 6 was retired too. Paolo would later one take the charge from him, as the baton of leadership was passed from mentor to disciple. Maldini would go on and win two more European titles, and win millions of hearts, and Franco Baresi was named Italian footballer of the century and AC Milan player of the century. That only explains how good Baresi was. Maldini was no less. And finally in 2009 Maldini's boots were ready to hang. And so was the iconic number 3. Which might come into play as Daniel Maldini is in the picture. But the footballing world will forever remain faithful to the two of the best defenders of the game. Who would go on and make it into an art. Remembering historically the best defensive partnership in Italy, Milan lives on to produce more.