AC Milan are back among the final eight teams in the Champions League after an 11-year wait and Paolo Maldini admitted that it has him thinking back to those great European nights.
Corriere dello Sport (via PianetaMilan) writes how 11 years after the last time Milan joined the top eight teams in Europe, many things have happened. There have been three changes of ownership, exclusion from European competitions for Financial Fair Play reasons and the Scudetto last season.
Looking at the club’s resurgence over the past few years, it feels right to take in the words of Paolo Maldini who has been one of the great architects of it. He spoke to the microphones of Milan TV after the game on Wednesday night.
“Now that we’re at this point, we’re playing for it all in Europe. I felt the shivers Milan gave me again when I was on the field,” he said.
Maldini also spoke about the path that Milan have taken to reach their recent achievements: “In January we lost confidence, but now the level of maturity has risen in the team. We must remember where we started from, but the Scudetto has made something extraordinary feel like a habit.
“We have achieved our goal in the Champions League: to get through the group, now we need to finish in the top four in the league. We know how to wait for all the players, we put them to the test without telling lies about our project.”
Finally, Maldini concluded by confessing which teams he would like to avoid in the next European crossing: “I would avoid an Italian team but we can’t think of being at the level of Bayern, City or Real.”
