Happy birthday to the Italian legend ~ Paolo Cesare Maldini!

Son of Italian and AC Milan defender Cesare Maldini, Paolo is regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time. Maldini spent his entire playing career at AC Milan where he joined the youth setup in 1978, making his senior debut in 1985.

In 25 seasons he appeared in 902 games for the Rossoneri, winning a total of 25 trophies including - five UEFA Champions League trophies, four European Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cup & a FIFA Club World Cup. At the domestic front, he was part of seven Serie A winning sides.

Having captained Italy in 74 of his 126 appearances, he earned the nickname of 'Il Capitano' or The Captain and led them to the European Championship final in 2000. Although he failed to win anything for his nation, he was part of the Italian teams that finished 3rd and Runners-Up at the FIFA World Cup in 1990 and 1994 respectively.

Having played his final World Cup in 2002, he amassed a total of 23 games at the tournament, just behind the German Lothar Matthaus. He was included the in both the World Cup and European Championship Team of the Tournament thrice, and narrowly lost out to George Weah for the title of FIFA World Player of the Year in 1995.

Following his retirement in 2008-09, AC Milan retired his fame No. 3 jersey and in 2012 he was included into the Italian Hall of Fame. Currently, he is the co-owner of the NASL club Miami FC, while his two sons, Chrsitian and Daniel are youth players at Milan, hoping to follow the footsteps of their father and grandfather

Happy 50th birthday legend.

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