Cesare Maldini

Cesare Maldini was born in Trieste, on February 5, 1932. He was born in the Slovenian quarter of Servola and both his parents were of Slovenian origin.

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At 13 he joined the Triestina academy. He went through the youth system, despite suffering from pleurisy, and moved up to the first team in 1952-53.

He stayed in Trieste for two seasons. In the first he only played one game but in the second became a regular with 31 league games. The Alabardati finished 15th in A under Mario Perazzolo and 13th under Nereo Rocco. His teammates included former Lazio, Bruno Ispiro (1946-47).

In 1955 he joined A.C Milan. He would stay twelve seasons. He immediately became a regular and went on to make 412 appearances (347 in A) with 3 goals (Triestina, Roma, Catania). He won 4 league titles (1955, 1957, 1959 and 1962) and a European Cup (1963). His managers included Béla Guttmann, Héctor Puccinelli, Giuseppe Viani, Luigi Bonizzoni, Paolo Todeschini, Nereo Rocca, Luis Carniglia and Nils Liedholm. The various squads included Lazio connections: Amos Mariani (1959-61), Per Bredesen (1952-55), Carlo Galli (1963-66), Paolo Ferrario (1960-61, 1962-63), Mario Maraschi (1961-64), Orlando Rozzoni (1959-61, 1962-1964, 1965-1966), Giuliano Fortunato (1967-72) plus future managers such as Gigi Radice, Osvaldo Bagnoli, Nils Liedholm, Giovanni Trapattoni and Nevio Scala. He played alongside the likes of Lorenzo Buffon, Juan Alberto Schiaffino, Omero Tognon, Gunnar Nordahl, Gianni Rivera, Jimmy Greaves, Giovanni Lodetti, José Altafini, Amarildo, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger just to name a few.

In 1966 he left Milan, reunited with Nereo Rocco and played one last season with Torino. He made 39 appearances (33 in A) and the Granata finished 7th. His teammates included Lazio connections Giambattista Moschino (1962-63, 1971-73), Carlo Facchin (1971-72) and Gigi Simoni (manager 1985-86)

He then retired at 35.

At international level he won 14 caps for Italy and was captain on six occasions. He took part in the 1962 World Cup.

After retiring as a player stayed in football.

He started at Milan from 1967-71 as a technical adviser. In 1971-72 he was assistant manager to Nereo Rocco and Milan finished 2nd, won the Coppa Italia and reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals. In 1972-73 he was Milan head coach with Nereo Rocco as technical director and the Rossoneri won the Coppa Italia, the Cup Winners Cup and finished 2nd in Serie A. The following season he took over from Rocco in December and then in April Giovanni Trapattoni took over.

From January 28, 1974, Maldini left Milan and was manager of Foggia for just over a year. The "Satanelli" were in Serie B and he took over from Lauro Toneatto and finished 8th. In the second he was replaced after 20 games by Roberto Balestri and the Rossoneri eventually finished 3rd and promoted. The promotion squad included Lazio connections Fausto Inselvini (1973-74) and Aldo Nicoli (1978-81).

In 1976-77, from the 12th fixture to the 24th, he was in charge of Ternana in Serie B. His squad included Paolo Franzoni (Lazio 1973-75). The Umbri eventually finished 14th.

In 1978-79 he took over during the season at Parma in Serie C1 and won promotion with a 2nd place finish. His players included Carlo Ancelotti (future Milan player and then top coach).

In 1979-80 he continued at Parma but was replaced during the season and the Gialloblu were eventually relegated.

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In 1980 he became an Italian Federation man and became assistant to Italy head coach Enzo Bearzot. Together they won the World Cup in “España" 1982.

In 1986 he became Italy U-21s coach and stayed ten years. He won three consecutive European Championships (1992, 1994, 1996). From 1992-96 he was also head of the Italian Olympic team.

In 1996 he became Italian first team head coach. The Azzurri qualified for France' 98 but were eliminated in the quarterfinals by the hosts on penalties.

After a few years of rest, he reappeared in 2001, at Milan as technical director from game 23 to 34 with Mauro Tassotti as manager. The Rossoneri finished 6th. His son Paolo was in the squad.

In 2001-02 he was head coach of Paraguay. The Albirroja participated in the 2002 World Cup and qualified for the last 16 after a win (Slovenia 3-1), a draw (South Africa 2-2) and a defeat (Spain 1-3). They then lost to Germany 0-1 and were eliminated.

At 70 he then retired as a manager too. A long and successful career both as player, manager and assistant manager.

As a player Maldini is a Milan legend. He played for twelve seasons and was later manager. He played 412 games with five seasons as captain. He won trophies as a player and as a manager.

As a player he was a defender. He could play in any defensive role. He started as a full-back but could also play as centre-back and later in his career played as libero. He is considered one of the best defenders of his generation, strong, skilful, good in the air. He was also charismatic and a born leader. His only fault was sometimes he abused his technical qualities and this overconfidence led to the occasional mistake, at the time called "maldinate".

As a coach he was a traditional one, using man-to-man marking, a big forward and one faster and more skilful one.

The Maldini dynasty then continued with his son Paolo, one of the all-time greats (Milan 1984-2009 and 126 Italy caps) and now with grandson Daniele (Milan, Monza, Atalanta, Lazio and 6 Italy caps).

Sources

Wikipedia