Paolo Maldini has given a revealing interview during which he has described what it is like to have the Coronavirus, which he and his son Daniel both tested positive for.
The pandemic continues to sweep across Italy and the rest of the world, and over the weekend it was announced that the former Rossoneri captain – as well as the current Milan forward – had both been inflicted by the Coronavirus.
There has been an outpouring of support on social media, and Paolo took to Instagram on Monday night to thank people for their messages of support and thanked those who are committed to fighting the virus.
Now, he has given a telephone interview to il Corriere della Sera about what it is like to have COVID-19, about his recovery and his son Daniel.
“I am quite well. The worst is over. I still have a little dry cough. I have lost my taste and smell, we hope to return. It was like a slightly ugly influence. But it is not a normal flu,” he said (via MilanLive).
“Look, I know my body. An athlete knows himself. The pains are particularly severe. And then you feel like a squeeze in the chest. It’s a new virus. The physicist fights against an enemy he does not know.”
Maldini is not yet sure who he contracted the virus from: “I don’t know. My wife had a very long, very strange flu, she was three weeks in bed. Before that, in mid-February, our eldest son, Christian, who is 23 years old and lives with us, had a bad flu, perhaps he was the worst in the family. I felt the first symptoms on Thursday March 5th.”
Even though at the time it was reported that Maldini and sporting director Ricky Massara didn’t attend Milan-Genoa on 8 March due to health precautions that weren’t Coronavirus-related, it now appears as though it was the virus all along.
“[I had] Pain in joints and muscles. Fever: never more than 38 and a half. The next day, Friday, I should have gone to Milanello, and I stayed at home. I also missed Milan-Genoa. Medicine? Only with tachipirine. I didn’t take antivirals because I never had breathing difficulties.
“I treated myself through the social doctor. We at Milan are very attentive to health, we have many resources, we have an agreement with San Raffaele. But we have chosen to scrupulously abide by the rules set by our city, by our region.”
The former Rossoneri captain then spoke about his friend who has struggled more with COVID-19.
“I already knew I had the virus. I felt it wasn’t a flu like any other; and then I had the vaccine for the flu. Of course, a little worry comes to you.
“A friend of mine had respiratory problems and is hospitalised in Legnano, does not sleep, has nightmares. It went better for me. However, I have been confined here for eighteen days with my family.”
On Daniel Maldini: “Yes. He too lives with us, he too has pain and fever. But he is so young. It seems to me that in the family he is the one who took it in a lighter form. My wife and Christian took the swab and are negative. But we are convinced that they too have taken the virus, and have already come out of it.”
Finally, Maldini says he is also confident for a resumption of the season: “There must be a finale to the season, and there will be. But we can’t say when now.
“I understand that it would be a precious leisure for people. But in football it is impossible not only to play, but also to train without contact. And then it is right to put all the teams on the same level. Some, like Sampdoria, are most affected. Some of the most representative players of Juve are positive.”
We wish Paolo and his family all the best in their recoveries.
