Saturday, May 23, 2009

Maldini Retires? Brazil Also Had To Do Without Pele - Former Milan Star Rivera

Former Milan star Gianni Rivera gave his take on Paolo Maldini's imminent retirement...

Ahead of Paolo Maldini's last home match for Milan tomorrow against Roma, lately a lot of football stars of past and present, as well as coaches, have sung the praises of the former Italy captain.

However, another former Milan legend, Gianni Rivera, was not as enthusiastic as most when he was asked about Maldini's reitrement.

"Maldini is retiring? Well, also Brazil had to do without Pele at some point," was his comment to repubblica.it.

The former playmaker and Golden Boy of Italian football in the '60s and '70s also talked about the possible coaching change at Milan, with Carlo Ancelotti likely to leave the club after eight years.

"I've never cared much about transfer rumours, not even when I played," he revealed. "After the summer I will look at the papers and see the formation and the name of the coach.

"If there are no good players, the coach becomes useless: the coach just needs to avoid causing problems, you just have to be serious and correct."

Rivera played for Milan between 1960 and 1979, scoring 122 goals. In 1969 he became the first Italian player to win the Ballon d'Or.

Danilo Pochini, Goal.com

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