Mazzara: Maldini’s ‘pipe bomb’ interview ‘paradoxically’ took pressure off Milan

By Oliver Fisher -

Paolo Maldini’s explosive interview has been described as a ‘pipe bomb’ which actually served to take the pressure away from the team before Saturday’s game against Frosinone, a journalist has claimed.

Maldini was sacked from his role as technical director – as was Ricky Massara from his position as sporting director – not long after the end of the 2022-23 season as RedBird Capital and Gerry Cardinale opted to go in a different direction.

A period of uncertainty followed in which the reasons for the fall-out between Maldini and RedBird were debated, while CEO Giorgio Furlani, chief scout Geoffrey Moncada and sporting director Antonio D’Ottavio took over the reins.

The former defender decided to break his silence on exactly what happened in early June when he gave a lengthy an interview with La Repubblica regarding the split, sharing details on the motive and his reactions.

You can read the full interview with Maldini here, while Pietro Mazzara spoke during his column for MilanNews about the ramifications of his comments and how it might actually have helped the squad.

“Paolo Maldini’s ‘Pipe Bomb’ in Repubblica (which recalled that of CM Punk against WWE on 27 June 2011), paradoxically, took the media attention away from the team and from the preparation for the match against Frosinone, with the former technical director who – like a river in flood – fired on everything and everyone,” he said.

“From Elliott and RedBird through Gazidis, Furlani, Moncada (although never named) but he was careful not to take responsibility for the choices made completely independently, or by turning the issue of the summer budget on his own (the current management had the same money budgeted for him to which was added that of the sale of Tonali) or having gone beyond the objectives set in the budget (no one ever puts victory as the first option).

“It fits, he told the truth about himself, and this interview goes hand in hand with the interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport a few days after the Scudetto, where – in fact – he put an end to the festive atmosphere by speaking publicly about his contract which had not yet been renewed.

“Everyone is free to think as they want, Maldini gave his insight into the situation after being fired at the end of five years of work where, however, he contributed to the Scudetto. It would have been interesting if Paolo had called a wide-ranging press conference. It probably would have been something even more explosive.”

Tags AC Milan Paolo Maldini

84 Comments

  1. “The former technical director who – like a river in flood – fired on everything and everyone,”
    “From Elliott and RedBird through Gazidis, Furlani, Moncada (although never named) BUT HE WAS CAREFUL NOT TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CHOICES MADE COMPLETELY INDEPENDENTLY, or by turning the issue of the summer budget on his own (the CURRENT MANAGEMENT HAD THE SAME MONEY BUDGETED FOR HIM TO WHICH WAS ADDED THAT OF THE SALE OF TONALI) or having gone beyond the objectives set in the budget (no one ever puts victory as the first option).”

    As I said, with this interview, unaware, Maldini proved Scaroni right that he didn’t get along with anyone in Milan management, old and new.
    And as Mazzara said he didn’t take any responsibility for his choices just blaming everyone and ther mother but himself.
    Another interesting thing about the timing of Maldini’s interview Is “Tic tac, Tic Tac”. Up until few weeks ago Zlatan’s return to Milan was just an idea, but now it’s reality. Zlatan has been sitting at games next to Milan management. Maldini probably realized “Oh Sh!t, not only did I get fired but I have been replaced and eclipsed.”
    Maldini was a great player, greatest defender of all time and Milan biggest legend, but he isn’t Zlatan.
    Zlatan is a universal superstar.
    I said during the summer that if Zlatan agrees to come back and be part of management after everything that happened during the summer, it would be a bad look for Maldini and his actual behavior as a Milan director, and maybe it was him and not everyone else the problem at Milan.
    What do Maldini fanboys think of Zlatan not just being back but actually working directly for Cardinale and RedBird?

    1. Come on man, cant compare zlatan with maldini when it comes to milan. Maldini was and is milan, loved, respected, recognized by everyone around the world. I like zlatan but he won’t have that prestige that maldini had. Again, maldini was a known legend around the world with many trophies under his belt. By bringing in zlatan, red bird is just trying to somewhat fix their mistake. Time will tell if they succeed.

      1. To add, red bird is realizing that bankers alone cannot run a club like our milan, and since they screwed up with maldini, they wanna bring another former player. However, zlatan has been more of a mercenary in his career. Dont get me wrong i like the guy. But he doesn’t have that maldini prestige when it comes to milan.

          1. I wouldn’t question Zlatans loyalty as he has professed several times before that AC Milan is his true home and never wanted to leave when he was sold to PSG either.

    2. I like Zlatan a lot but the only things he eclipses Maldini in is his super inflated ego, social media likes, probably money earned due to playing in a different era and the goals many scored in his career besides of that nah not even close to eclipsing Maldiniy but sure keep making up a narrative that fits your agenda.

    3. Wow, you just need one excuse to pin all the blame on Maldini. Your kinds don’t even know things like NDA exists in these contract terminations, he probably would have signed an NDA before his termination which prevented him from speaking about anything related to this for 6 months, and now you are saying Maldini was the problem when this is our worst start of a season since his arrival.
      You guys are taking his interview way too seriously, he said what he felt was right, and he has a right to do so. He did what he can with the limited budget he had. For 120M net spent in 4 season, not many would have done better than him. It’s also should be noted that this was his first job in any sporting role.

    4. Really? That’s how low you are willing to go? Jeez, people really don’t know the difference between an opinion of a columnist, an outside observer and actual facts stated.

      Just stop it. You are pathetic.

    5. Read the interview. He was given an embarrassing budget which HALF of the one Furlani was given AFTER Tonali’s sale.
      Maldini might be lying but it’s not like we have heard any denial from anyone within the management team about any of the (very strong) accusations.

      1. Like i said when he got fired. Maldini made mistakes for sure, with the likes of cdk, however he build this team from ground up, bought relatively cheap players and turned them into superstars. Every club makes mistakes in the transfer windows. Remember how the players reacted after the news he got fired. Hell, u dont even see that kind of reaction when a coach is fired. Thats how loved and respected he was.

      2. You need to read the interview.
        Maldini just like Furlani was given a base budget plus whatever you can generate from sales.
        Milan spent 115 mil this summer. If you take out the 64 mil generated from Tonali’s sale, you are left with 51 mil. Same budget that was given to Maldini. Maldini problem even today is that he wasn’t generating money thru sales but on the contrary he was losing money by losing Milan best players for nothing.
        Imagine how much more money Maldini would have had to work with if he wasn’t losing Hakan, Kessie, Romagnoli, Donnarumma for free. He didn’t say anything about that which IMO was the main reason he got fired and not what he says CDK.
        People are more upset with the Tonali sale, which from everything that happened, looks like a masterstroke by Furlani than with Maldini losing 4 of Milan best players for nothing.
        Every team makes sales, even the greatest team in all sports Real Madrid. A RM account posted real Madrid transfer dealings over the last 5 years. They were in plus 10 mil. They generated 10 more mil from players’ sales than they spent on buying players. Over 600 mil spent in 5 years and still generating that much plus 10 mil from players sales. Is Real Madrid a selling club? Cristiano, Varane, Casemiro, Odegaard, Theo, Hakimi, etc. all sold by RM, but Milan under Maldini lets players in their prime leave for free.

        1. Maldini implied in the interview that his transfer kit had been made smaller than planned.
          In that same interview maldini also hints at the he couldnt renew some of those players and that came down to gazzidis or at least the wage cap.
          Comparing milan with real madrid currently or in recent years is daft as they can far more easily sell players so bto say not to tumble the card house, milan needed to keep some of their players to keep consistency madird or other wealthy clubs is in a different league considering the squads and cash they have.
          Mians squad also increased its value even though they lost some of those players on free and whos to say that we would have won a scudetto had we just sold some of those players as well.
          I find your argumentation weak and downright suspicious.

          1. Gazidis told Maldini not to sell those players, let them leave for free and lose the money from their sales, while trying to get Milan out for debt? Yeah that sounds like what Gazidis would do.
            And you call my argumentation weak and suspicious?

          2. Thats far from what i said, i hinted at that the wage cap imposed on him made it difficult to renew those players contracts and considering our squad quality had we just sold them like you suggest as real madrid can do consistency within the squad would potentialy be harmed and thereby we might not have won our 19 scudetto…. stop making up bs,

          3. Milan won the title after Maldini lost Donnarumma and Hakan for nothing, while Romagnoli barely played that season because of injuries, if you don’t remember. Milan didn’t even replace Hakan. So that weak argument that if Maldini was capable of selling those players, it would have harmed that team and stopped Milan from winning the scudetto is not holding water.
            Or am I making up BS?

          4. Milan tried to renew kessies contract but he held us for fools as he had already told that he would renew at the olympics and in january we couldn’t selll him even though we had an offer from tottenham as he had decided to join barcelona,
            Hakan didnt renw because inter stepped in and the wage cap prevented us to do so.
            Romagnoli was always in the cards to leave for free and join lazio and you simply cant sell a player that wont leave as he wanted to join his childhood team. Regardless they helped and so did some of the other players in regard of qualifying for cl which again helped us gain cash and then helped us later on in the scudetto fight. Had we sold dome of those players previously would we still have played european football and eventually wining the scudetto no guarantees there at all. Yes you are basically full of it

    6. Maldini replaced and eclipsed? Really? That single sentence makes your entire post look childish.

      1) Even if Ibra does come, and I hope he does, it will not be as technical director. Ibra just wants to come, make jokes and slap some people on the head.

      2) No one will eclipse Maldini at Milan, certainly not Ibra, Moncada or Cardinale and not anyone who hasn’t played for 15+ years at Milan. Maldini and his family are a legacy at Milan and you don’t see that very often now adays. Too bad.

      You must be a new fan who never bothered to look into how much the Maldini’s gave to Milan. 4 generations of it too.

      Is Paolo always right? No. No one is, but I trust him more than I trust anyone else at Milan. For him, Milan is a passion. For you, it’s just a bandwagon.

      1. Besides of being legacy at the club id argue that the family are royalty at the club and come to think of it AC Milan has only won 1 cl/european champions cup without a Maldini at the club so that makes 6 out of 7 wins with a Maldini in the team.

    7. You Sir, are an utter delusional, maniacal handicapped child.

      Read it again but without any emotion and you’ll see so much more than your blind hatred allows.

    8. Come on man, Maldini fan boy? It sounded like an insult. And what is wrong being Maldini fan? That man did more than Redbird. I’m a fan of whoever brings glory to Milan. Until redbird brings glory, I will remain skeptical. Man, I don’t understand why some people like worship redbird over 1 transfer window and mocked Maldini after how many title he had won as a player and as a director.

    9. You think that Maldini is the Milan problem? Did they win the champions league trophée,? no, not even a serious candidate for the Scudetto.

      Cardinale & Co only focused on financial results, don’t expect too much from them, though only time can tell

    10. “BUT HE WAS CAREFUL NOT TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CHOICES MADE COMPLETELY INDEPENDENTLY” tell us oh brilliant Z what this means. If you’re cynical it means he went and did things on his own but if you bothered to pay attention to his interview he did say that ALL of his choices were approved by Foolani and Scadumi

      “Nothing could be further from the truth than that sporting director Massara and I did not share objectives and strategies. Never had, nor wanted, signing power: not even for loans. EACH PURCHASE WAS ENDORSED BY THE CEO AND OWNERS ” in true Z capping fashion . You mad bro? Or you have selective memory? That Maldini interview really ruffled y’all feathers. Its not the commenters here anymore that’s saying what they think, it’s Maldini himself saying it is probably why y’all saltyyyyy.

      “(the CURRENT MANAGEMENT HAD THE SAME MONEY BUDGETED FOR HIM TO WHICH WAS ADDED THAT OF THE SALE OF TONALI)” I don’t know if this is this should be a “sic”/ editorial by the writer of the article of actual quotes from that article. But this is not true. Current management budgeted for half of what the net of Tonali spend was. Matter of fact the budget in bumped when they fired Maldini.
      ” Then, four days before the dismissal, Furlani very embarrassedly told me about a low budget: I took note of it. After our departure, THE BUFGET EVEN DOUBLED, net of the sale of Tonali, and the salary amount is finally in line with our plan: it must have become a source of inspiration” LOL 😂😂😂 nice try

    11. LOL. What a comical take that is completely void of reality. TY @Z for making me laugh at your foolish insights.

      “Maldini proved Scaroni right that he didn’t get along with anyone in Milan management, old and new.” LOLOLOLOLO. Gotta love these Redbird sicofants- at least they are consistent in their BS.

  2. Comparing maldini and zlatan? For goodness sake, don’t. They can’t be mentioned in the same sentence, even if zlatan has stratospheric ego. 5UCL trophies are something zlatan will never have. Being captain in his club and moulding young players is something he didn’t do when he was playing in his prime either.
    Zlatan is a stop gap. This same management queried maldini over his signing as a player, so why do they want him now as staff? They just noticed what maldini knew about zlatan ages ago.
    Let’s see for how long zlatan will kiss scaroni’s feet or furlani’s bum.

  3. Nobody should ever say Maldini doesn’t put himself above Milan. He is only a mortal man, with ego like everyone else. He didn’t like being fired and took parting shots at the management. Not the classiest of gestures. Remove him from his pedestal. Player, director, man….nothing more.

    1. But it was an okay classy gesture when said management gave the fans thier own versions of events that happened.

      The double standards been used on this site is just utterly ridiculous.

    2. Bro the current management (Scaroni) took parting shots when Maldini hadn’t said a word. And they didn’t even recognize Massara (they fired him too didn’t they?) in their farewell message lol. And you’re talking about class?

  4. Maldini won 5 UCLs as part of a team not by himself.
    You are mistaking team accomplishments with individual greatness.
    Individually Zlatan is in another stratosphere from Maldini.
    Zlatan is known in football and out of football. Unless you are a football fan you wouldn’t know who Maldini is. So when it comes to representing Milan globally especially with the younger generations Zlatan eclipses Maldini. Zlatan just retired 5 months ago. Maldini retired 15 years ago. A whole new generation of people don’t even know who Maldini is.
    Costacurta also has 5 UCLs. Is he greater than Zlatan or Ronaldo, who have none?
    But as you can see Maldini interview didn’t get the expected reaction that Maldini was looking. Media, most fans even Maldini pundit friends like Costacurta questioned his intentions and timing.

    1. LOL, who are you trying to prove wrong here? People are defending Maldini for his eternal love for the club and his impact which led to where we are and here some nobody trying all he can to berate our legend.
      You are comparing some temporary clout to the eternal respect and admiration anyone who is into football has for Maldini. TBF, Costacurta did achieve more than Zlatan did, so…

      “But as you can see, Maldini interview didn’t get the expected reaction that Maldini was looking. Media, most fans, even Maldini pundit friends like Costacurta, questioned his intentions and timing.” Why should he care about that? He felt disrespected and said what he wanted, that’s the end of the story. What reaction are talking about, lol? Do you think Maldini is an attention whore like you.

      1. 😆
        Look at the Maldini fans. Now they are even going to attack Zlatan and call him mercenary because he will come back to Milan. Yesterday they said that Costacurta is looking for a job at Milan that’s why he wasn’t jumping on the Maldini bandwagon. During the summer they were attacking Baresi. What other Milan legend will you attack next just so you can defend your cult leader?
        The point all of you miss is that after everything that happened over the summer, when the pro Maldini Italian media and his fans were talking about Milan new ownership, management, and Cardinale as the devil, that no player will wanna stay, everyone will ask to leave or no player will wanna come to Milan because they fired Maldini, none of that happened, and still one of the biggest football superstars and a Milan legend, who had a major part in the resurrection of the club, wants to come back and work for and with the “devils” RedBird, Cardinale, Furlani, Scaroni and company, and help Milan.
        The only player that asked to leave was the one that had to make quick cash to cover his illegal gambling habit.
        Be mad as much as you want but Maldini looks worse than 6 months ago.
        Can’t wait to see what Milan legend is next on your hit list.

        1. Look, you don’t have to be a genius, to know Zlatan is one of the biggest mercenaries in football. There are facts to correct my claim.
          1. He started his career at Malmö FF, and their fans made a statue of him and wanted him to return and end his career there. But in return, he invested in their rivals Hammarby and bought a 25% stake in the club.
          2. He is a player who has played for big 3 Italian clubs, plead elegance to all 3, criticized 1 of them in interviews.

          Also, what do you mean by cult leader, you seem more like a guy who will join a cult than me. Like you are so fixated in proving your point. Honestly, it takes guts to be an idiot.

          1. “what do you mean by cult leader, you seem more like a guy who will join a cult than me” damn you had me chuckling here 😀

        2. When thinking of projects in decades, the little focus on years.

          It’s literally been less than 8 months since Maldini was fired. Judge the results below.

          We spent more this past summer than we ever have even excluding Tonalis sale.

          We sit 3rd In the league 5 points above Roma and Napoli. This is after a poor run of results. (Anything worse than 4th and kiss all that UCL cash goodbye…and possibly players who want to play UCL but were convinced by Maldini to come play for us)

          We are on the verge of crashing out of the champions league. (Again, kiss all that UCL cash goodbye)

          We have the worst injury crisis in as long as I can remember.

          Yet you hate Maldini so much you can’t objectively see this.

          Maybe when it becomes a reality you’ll stop being a simpleton who’s drank too many mountain dews this morning?

        3. You know, Cardinal & Co with their Moneyball players struggle to bother Inter Milan or Juventus in the Juventus race, or reaching the C1 knock out stage.

          Maldini has made good and bad decisions, but I trust him more than American who only cares about financial results, this strategy if it will last very long, I seriously doubt our participation in the Champions League, what about going far in the C1

      2. Someone said that Ibra is coming to be a poster boy for advertisement.
        Yes , because that is the only thing he is qualified to be right now. The only thing Maldini was qualified to be too. Neither Ibra nor Maldini were/are qualified to hold any executive positions.
        Also, Ibra outreach is much larger and more recent than Maldini’s, for non Milan fans. If you wanna expand the Milan fan base, Ibra is a much bigger name than Maldini.
        Milan has been irrelevant for a decade. During that time only Messi and CR7 were bigger names in football than Ibra. Coming at Milan at age 38 , Ibra made more noise around the sports world than Maldini coming back to Milan as a director. Most non Milan fans didn’t even know that Maldini was Milan director until Ibra came back. Milan was back on the football map with Ibra’s arrival. Maldini don’t have that pull.
        Both great players but a striker will always be a bigger star than a defender. No one is going to the stadium, or turn on the TV with the excitement to see a defender make a tackle or a GK make a save. People wanna see Ibra, Sheva, Kaka, Pirlo Seedorf, the skilled players.
        So, yeah Maldini for Milan is a bigger name, but outside of Milan especially for casual or non Milan fans, Ibra is a much larger name.
        Plus Maldini had his run, and if it was his fault or not, his run is over and no matter what he says and how much some people want him back, that is not happening.
        So stop crying and move on.
        Maldini in his interview said that people pass thru but Milan history needs to be respected. Well he is also one of those people who passed thru and he should respect the club history, present and future even if that’s without him, instead of attacking the club and creating a bad look for the club from the outside.
        Move on.

        1. You have to be kidding.

          Maldini’s aura convinced many players to come play for Milan when we weren’t in the UCL and for pittance of salary.

          Ibra has somewhat of that aura but ina different fashion. Ibra demands the best out of you because he’s Ibra. Maldini wants you to be the best to help you and the club. BIG difference but I love both.

          1. Which one of the players that Maldini convinced to come to Milan were playing on a UCL team when Milan wasn’t in the UCL?
            Theo? Nope. Played for a mid table team in Spain.
            Leao? Nope.
            Bennacer? Nope. Relegated.
            Tonali? Nope. Relegated.
            Krunic? Nope. Relegated.
            Saelemakers? 🤣
            Rebic? Nope. Europa league.
            Brahim Diaz? He was watching games like the fans.
            Kjaer? He was without a club after Atalanta threw him out.
            Ibra? Nope. Came out of semi retirement in MLS.
            Mandzukic? Nope. He was without a club for almost a year.
            Meite? Nope.
            Dalot? Couldn’t get playing time at Utd.
            Tomori? Yes. But he was buried on Chelsea bench.
            Peter Hauge? He was in Europa qualifiers against Milan.
            Based on these names people give Maldini way too much credit for “convincing” players to come to Milan.
            Half of these players were unknown, young , relegated, not playing for their current clubs or old, and without a club.
            How hard could have been to convince someone in those situations to come to Milan?
            Also, all of them made more money at Milan than what they were making at their previous clubs.
            You talk about how Ibra and Maldini are with players like you have actually met them, know them or been part of the locker room to see how and what each one of them communicate or demand from the players.
            You are just projecting what you want to be true.

        2. Another asinine comment.. Haters going to hate. Ya sure all of those players were going to come to Milan on their own despite all of them saying the reason they came was because Maldini called and convinced them to come. More BS stories made up from the Maldini haters lolololo. Pathetic

          1. Are ya sure that they wouldn’t have come if Maldini wasn’t there? Of course they will say that Maldini called and convinced them, because newsflash, that was his job. Just like it was Furlani’s job to call and convinced players this past summer.
            None of those players that are named were highly sought after players or they gave up money to come to Milan.
            Read Moncada interview when he says that they had no competition for Theo.
            It might hurt your feelings when you find out that both Theo and Leao were signed because he followed them for 4,5 years before Milan signed them.
            Moncada first day at Milan is in December of 2018, both Theo and Leao are signed in summer of 2019.
            Funny how after a scout that follows both players since they played for the youth teams of Sporting and Atlético are signed 6 months after he is hired.
            Those are the 2 best players on the list.
            When it comes to Bennacer Empoli president in an interview said that he had to threatened Bennacer to keep him in serie B if he doesn’t accept Milan transfer because Bennacer didn’t want to come to Milan but wanted to go to Lyon.
            Look at the rest of the names.
            Maldini convinced them. Ha ha 😂

      1. I just don’t get the juvenile comments andhate from these Maldini bashers. It seems they feel in order to support Redbird and current management they have to bash the former. It makes zero sense. Let look at the FACTS:

        Maldini helped win us 5 UCL titles; 7 Scudetti; 4 Super Cups; 2 Intercontinental Cups; 1 FIFA World Club cup; 3 Suppercoppa Italiana Cups; and 1 Coppa Italia. He’s Arguably the best defender of all time. Played 25 years and he and his family dedicated their lives to our club. All he has done is represent himself and Milan with dignity and CLASS. Now as a director all he did was help us balance the books and turn a profit for the first time in 17 years; add numerous talent worth hundreds of millions of dollars (Leao, Theo, Mike, Benny, Thiaw, etc…) all while CUTTING the wage bill and doing so on a paltry transfer budget; win the Scudetto for the first time in 11 years and put us back in UCL for the last 3 years with a semi-finals appearance last season amd bring us back k to relevance.

        And there are some clowns who wanna bash the guy?? -why – because he and ownership agreed to buy CDK and Origi??? LOLOLOLO. If one of you morons had 1/1,000,000 of a career Maldini had you would be considered a superstar. But is the problem and that is never going to happen judging by these sad and pathetic comments. Losers lose. Winners win. Lots of pathetic losers on this site I’m afraid. SAD

        1. I agree with you Juro but this is not about reasoning and its not even about being fans its about them who keeps trolling and mocking everyone who isn’t supporting every decision made by the ownership. I for one like all the incoming transfers we made this summer and i will even admit in retrospect it was smart selling Tonali considering he ended up banned for ten months,
          Im not saying anyone is perfect and neither is football legends like Maldini but the lack of respect shown for a club legend like him who actually also did great after his playing career at the club is completely ridiculed and belittled and anyone who reasons about the ridiculousness of that sort of behaviour is deemed Maldini fan boys which clearly is only to troll people on this website.
          I would go so far that the website moderators should start to take action against that sort of bs and hopefully sooner than laterr because i for one are fed up with it. When that is said people/employees do get fired in the coorporate world but slandering and mocking club legends simply isn’t a sign of being supporters quite the opposite in my view.

    2. Oga keep quiet.
      You Maldini detractors would question his timing regardless of whenever he came out.

      Stop capping and accept the facts.

      This narratives yall feed yourself to justify your wild fantasies are utterly ridiculous

  5. One win against Frosinone and Maldini is wrong? Come on. Maldini, Massara, and Boban played a big part in bringing this team back and they were all shown the door despite second place, a Scudetto, followed by fourth place and a Champions League semi-final in a season where the only season transfers didn’t work out.
    This season, on paper, we are still in the scudetto race despite the many injuries but we were in the same position last season going into the winter break. So, after the new management spent 114 million (not counting add-ons and bonuses), the team is in the same position in the league, and at high risk of exiting the Champions League in the first round and losing a lot of money. Funny enough, being out of Europe, may actually help our Scudetto chances. Remember though, without a Scudetto, this season is a failure and I don’t think we will get there without spending money in January.

  6. “the current management had the same money budgeted for him to which was added that of the sale of Tonali”

    That is refuted by Maldini, he said the budget given to him was half of the current management’s budget without Tonali’s sale.

      1. The Z has always had me wondering if he is from Russia by the way which doesn’t really give his comments further credibility considering how brainwashed a lot of them are over there. And yes i know some good ones as well 🙂

        1. I agree with you, their youth to some extent has been brainwashed by their government. I also heard my coworker say that the government has a control over media. (She was Russian BTW)

          1. I have several russian friends on the web but that Z seems suspicious at the vey minimum and it would also fit with his troll attiotude and yes russia actually has orchestrated troll factories/armies 😀
            I still talk with some living over there though but they certainly isnt sucking up to their supreme leaders. I know a lot of eastern european people in real life as well and they are absolutely not fans of that regime either 😀

  7. No one gives a sh*t about this salty man’s interview other than fake online ‘fans’ who think Milan will win everything once Redbird and Pioli goes away and pretends like Milan is Chelsea atm and are 10th

    keep on hating, this project will continue, you can follow Maldini to Saudi and support someone there

    1. Continue in the downward trajectory.

      Yes. Yes it will.

      I am still going to hold out on judgement until season end for Cardinale but it isn’t trending well in the results catagory.

      1. yeah dude 3rd from being 5th last season is a downward trajectory and a massive failure, I forgot the grand finish of last season it was so much better because Maldini was sitting on the stands and because we didnt get lucky again with CL groups so its so bad now, almost relegation form yeah?

    2. Boulden!!!! Where have u been?? All that talk in the summer and then nada during the season??? Hahaha 😂😂 and the first thing you comment on since then is about Maldini…go figure and go fck off. I knew you’re simply a troll

    3. Saudi? Cardinale and Furlani are negotiating with them to bring investment to Milan. Does Maldini has something to do in Saudi?

  8. Never heard of Paolo Maldini before.
    He was way before I started following European football in a serious fashion.
    Legendary?
    Eric Cantona is legendary, considering the numbers of documentaries and Youtube videos made about him.
    “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea”
    Now, THAT is legendary

    1. Shut up and go read some Tolkien instead as you seem to live on fantasy island if you think Cantona is a bigger footbal legend than Maldini and just because you didn’t know him and proudly showcases your ignorance its fair to assume you started following football in the last couple of years.

      1. OK, in the interest of learning, I went and did a bit of research here, because one of the most memorable pieces of history that got me interested in international football in the first place was the 1994 World Cup.
        I looked it up, and Maldini was in that World Cup.
        One of the most fascinating matches from the World Cup, which I still remember, was the Italy-Ireland group stage match, which Ireland won 1-0 off of an incredible sequence where a long ball came off the head of one of a trio of Italian defenders, and was then neatly picked off by Ireland forward Ray Houghton who then fired in a looping shot that went over the head of GK Gianluca Pagliuca.
        The trio of Italian defenders in that match was #6 Baresi, #5 Maldini, and #4 Costacurca, all AC Milan players.
        Watching replays of that match, Baresi seemed to have been trying to head the ball towards Maldini, but the ball got intercepted by Houghton, cutting across the field. Maldini didn’t react in time, and Houghton let loose his long shot on goal which went in.
        Arrigo Saachi was the Italy manager. I remember commentators saying that most of the Italy national team was from Saachi’s AC Milan team.
        Roberto Baggio, who had won the Ballon D’Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 1993 (they were separate awards at the time) would be the one to miss the fatal PK in the final against Brazil that gave Brazil it fourth World Cup win. He was with Juventus at the time, but joined AC Milan a year later.
        So there!
        Now I know who Paol Maldini is! He’s the guy in that video of the 1994 Italy-Ireland match standing there waiting for the header from Baresi, a header that Houghton nicked and shot in for the winning score.

        1. Pathetic attempt at trolling. How are you a Milan fan without knowing who Maldini is but knew who Cantona was. Either you came to support after Maldini’s era, which is the banter era – which is VERY unlikely to attract new fans, or you’re only here during Pioli’s era – then again, Maldini is already there too.

          So, lame attempt at trolling. Just admit you hate the man (for some reason), and you won’t be reasoned with. At least we would understand where you’re coming from. Afterall, judging the legend based on how many documentaries/commentaries/quips/youtube videos they have, is just a ridiculous. I’d suggest you look up to things Zlatan said or did, he’d amuse you even more than Cantona.

          1. Yea that’s the part that don’t make any sense. During Cantona’s prime guess who was there… Maldini. Dude spanned 3 decades of elite football. People went to their primes and retired and he was still playing. Man is literally the GOAT.

        2. LMAOO, I seriously thought you were serious with the first comment but I guess not. Took me a while to understand the troll.

          1. Yeah, what is it with all this rage here about Maldini getting fired?
            His new bosses didn’t like him and he got fired.
            That happens all the time in this cold hard world.
            Berlusconi doesn’t own AC Milan anymore.

    2. Hahahaha this has to be the most hilarious post I’ve read today. I thought Z was bad but man you take top spot. So you claim to know football by saying Cantona is more legndary. His legend is great because of YouTube?? 😂😂😂😂 Wtf lol. Dude had like 5 good years at Man Utd albeit legendary years. Maldini had like 20+ elite years including before Cantona’s time, during the time Cantona was in his prime and well after Cantona’s prime. So you saying Maldini was before that shows how little you know of football or how made up your post is.

  9. It didn’t take pressure off. It heaped it on!

    Pioli and Furlini are under even more pressure given the direction of results.

    Maldini’s renewal and praise of Pioli is him working with what he is told he had to do. He was told to resign and he isn’t going to dp that and then blast the coach that he needs to succeed.

    His budget was laughable and he gave us an amazing team.

    He tried to resign players knowing he’d have to pay a lot more to replace difference makers only to have management not approve the salaries demands.

    It makes sense he butted heads with people who only saw the team as a money maker.

    He, Massara and in a small fashion Boban fought to make this club great. Maldini had the prestige to convince good prospects to join a fledgling product.

    At the end of this, it shows Furlani is the problem. Because of that, Pioli is still a problem. Lastly Scaroni is an embarrassment.

    Maldini is still fighting to make Milan great again. Cardinale seems to be standing in his way.

    1. yeah Maldini is so mad Milan made a profit of 70m from Tonali because he was planning to let him go for free or give him a ridiculous 10m/yr contract to put Milan back in debt

      1. This is just one crazy and baseless accusation. First of all, Maldini couldn’t even extend Calhanoglu who merely asked for 500k more, how could he give Tonali 10M/year contract? Tonali actually just extended his contract in 2022 ’til 2027, that’s WAY beyond Maldini’s tenure as director if it’s not extended by Cardinale.

        Putting Milan back into debt? Maldini literally worked under strict budget. Had he try to put Milan back into debt, he would’ve already done so, instead, he was part of the management who put back Milan into the map and managed to navigate the difficult financial constraint caused by the previous mismanagement.

        Why do you hate Maldini so much and managed to sink this low really? It baffles me really.

      2. Bouldi what are you doing here? Go back to truck station toilet. It’s holiday season, will get more tips for your dirty mouth. Remember to gurgle between jobs.

  10. Haha, now these guys are trying to pit Maldini vs Zlatan. I for one would be over the moon if Zlatan proves to be a capable director (or whatever roles he’s given) and brought us glory. But if things don’t work out like it didn’t for Maldini. I’m PRETTY SURE these guys would also blindly begin to lambast Zlatan and get back behind those seedy bankers, without objectively looking at the reasons.

    I’m just completely at loss at some of the hatred towards Maldini here. Is he THAT crappy of a director as potrayed by them? Not really. As a matter of fact, we won scudetto under his tenure and may I remind you that it was done under strict budgeting too. Not even many seasoned directors would be able to do that, mind you. Of course, Maldini wasn’t single handedly responsible for that, but he was part of the rebuilding projects and there is NO denying that, no matter how you felt.

  11. These new fans have no respect about history of the institute this club represents and its players. They are the reflection of this yankee management. Cheap loving entertainment and hyper consumerism is what gets these weak and spineless so called fans nowadays. Pathetic to say the least.

  12. Opinions differ, and the owner decides. Maybe it is just so simple. Who is right and who is wrong? Each has their own stance and values. For an owner to come buy the club (still non-profiting at that time) and make it his liability, I doubt he will let anyone run the club at free-will. It is not a toy. We have seen the late Berlusconi sold the club to a dodgy Chinese man (perhaps without much background checks), and this same Chinese man in turn ran the club into the ground, making the club so heavily indebted. Owners make decisions. Good owners make decisions of consequence. Undeniably, the route of sustainability has put the club back in the black after years in the red.

  13. These guys @Boulden @🔴⚫️ and @Z – seem like little children jealous of Maldini lol. Pretty pathetic. Grow up gents and move one. Liking Redbird and this new management doesn’t mean you have to hate the previous one. Grow up. Be thankful for the work Maldini and co. and move on. I just wonder IF we miss top 4 and don’t qualify for knock out UCL this season – are these same haters going to scream to sack Furlani and Moncada and say their trash for purchasing players like Chukuweze, Jovic, etc…??? We shall see children.

  14. Once again Maldini haters prove what they are just reality detached children with too much free time and access to the internet.

    One said take your history, implied Milan’s history and shove it down your back. And that’s supposed to be a Milan fan to be taken seriously. 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣.

    All the salty takes fused with unfounded delusions. Zlatan and Cantona bigger than Maldini, 😂🤣😂🤣🤣. I mean you can’t just make this stuff up. But yet here I am reading it. Open your eyes and clear your blind hatred.
    IT’S NOT GOOD FOR YOUR MALDINI
    I MEAN HEALTH

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