Paolo Maldini received a 50 minute interview with AKOS podcast hosted by the famous physiotherapist Luca Gemini on his 56th birthday. In the interview, he focused on the impact of changes in training methods and medical means on his player's career.
It is well known that you have spent all your career in Milan. How do you feel when looking back?
I don't think this is a monotonous road, but full of ups and downs and satisfaction. I think that the lucky thing for a football player who plays in a team is to find a club with the same ambition as you, and this club may also allow you to reach your highest level. I am very lucky. In addition to talent, I also have a team that pursues the highest goal: I believe that this is the first secret for me to have such a long career in a club.
When you were young, your father was a coach. What kind of experience was that?
When my father coached Ternana, Parma and Foggia, he always acted completely independently, which was also because our brothers had six people in total, and we were young at that time. The coach's career is made up of many moments, so maybe they will take you to Parma, and then they will send you away six months later. You may not stay in one place for a long time, so it is definitely not worth moving the whole family. What's more, we all have to go to school, and we all have our own after-school activities, so that's really impossible.
And he used to be a player
I have never seen my father play football, because he stopped his career in 1966 or 1967, and I was born in 1968. However, when comparing between different times, it is difficult to compare a young man who might have played football in the 2000s with a man who played football in the 1960s, and vice versa.
I think I'm lucky. Since the 1980s, I have received some kind of education and formed some kind of values, which have run through my entire career. Over the years, great changes have taken place in the particularity of football training, technology, tactics and physical reserves. Thank God, I have great coaches and trainers who have paved the way for a higher level of professional football.
Is there any difference between football today and before?
In the first few years, there were not many videos. In fact, they could only watch the live broadcast of matches on Italian national television, such as the match they chose in the second half of the season, or the game on Wednesday night, which was also called the European Champions League at that time. You don't have a chance to understand the characteristics of your opponent. You can only watch the game through the people of the club, but the information they know is the same. I don't think the professional level was lower at that time, but the knowledge and tools were less at that time, which could not make the sport more professional, not in terms of input, but in terms of knowledge.
You made your debut in Serie A when you were 16 years old. How did you do it? What did you do before that?
Especially in some teams, such as Milan, the training during the youth training period is based on mastering technical skills, so we tried a lot of techniques, few tactical things, and then developed some situations encountered on the court. I started playing right and left avantgarde, and was transferred to the right back position when I was about 14 years old. In fact, in the final stage of the reserve team, I have been playing at right back. I believe that this is a plan that will still work today. Even though we tend to bring more tactical concepts to children, what they need to develop has really changed. What they need to develop is the ability of technology and choice, rather than being indoctrinated by coaches who think they are well prepared, but are far less visionary than those gifted children.
Therefore, I will ask children to prepare another type of football, rather than absolute tactics, because tactics will always evolve over time, and will evolve faster in the future: therefore, you may be asking them to prepare something that is outdated when they enter the first team. However, certain techniques and competition principles will remain timeless forever. Physical training has also become very important. Boys must be ready to compete with adult players at some stage of their growth. From my point of view, when you change your position as an adult, it is impossible to change a player's attitude, especially the mentality, because you have been used to that standard, and it is difficult to change the direction of progress.
What role has Liedholm played in your career?
It is very important because he is a modern coach. We have used the four guard formation since the 1980s instead of following the opponent. He had already considered the reverse movement of players at that time. I was a natural right foot player, but later I adapted to playing on the left side. The possibility of cutting in gave me more play in the game. His foresight and courage to let young players play make him a pioneer in football. He always tells you that football is a game and you must play for fun. This is something you need to repeat, from children to professional players.
The Berlusconi era has brought Milan professionalism, as well as coaches like Sacchi and Capello
Milanello, built in the 1960s, was the first such training center in the world, and Milan was also one of the first clubs to believe in similar projects: at that time, the idea of a closed and isolated special base had already come into being.
When Berlusconi arrived, he brought a kind of enterprise organization, which raised everything and everyone to the highest level, whether in football or organization, as well as respect for roles. His first choice was to invite a visionary like Sacchi, thus opening the door to other worlds in the football world: the track and field coach came here and all kinds of knowledge gathered together. Sacchi let the players do a lot of physical training, and this is the secret of the team's victory: when you work harder than others, you have an advantage.
Because I had less knowledge at that time, I felt that I was almost always overtraining. I was only 20 years old at that time. Looking back, I didn't know the importance of rest and relaxation at that time: your mind would be used to suffering all the time, but from a physical point of view, your physical condition was sometimes good and sometimes bad. You will often appear on the court without energy: in the Sacchi era, although we did focus more on European competitions, we only won one league championship in four years, which is no coincidence. The number of training is the same, but the time is longer, the intensity has reached the maximum, and there are two times of training every week, which is rare now. This is an experiment based on working principles, but from a physical point of view, sometimes our physical condition is not ideal.
We are talking about something 35 years ago. The pioneers 35 years ago will make you make mistakes, but they have also developed something. Sacchi has never been a top player. After Capello arrived, the team reduced the training time. After testing these things, our work has also been optimized. Milan has always had the idea of looking for something different: in 2002, after years of average level, the club found four young college graduates, who gave us great help in physical fitness, prevention and personal customization, which is very important. We have 35 year old players and very young players, for example, I am 39 years old and Pato is 18 years old: you cannot consider training everyone in the same way.
What influence does Baresi have on you?
Franco retired in 1995. At that time, there was no such intermittent attention, but Franco was undoubtedly my role model. In fact, my character is very introverted, so in my opinion, his behavior is perfect, he doesn't talk much, but he does a lot of things.
However, Mauro Tassotti is another style. His personality is different from that of many other players, such as Evani and Andrea Ikardi. It can be said that there are many very interesting players in these teams. You can play with them, and there are also players with a winning mentality: it depends on whether you know what kind of group you should follow.
Van Basten and Ronaldo are both players who have physical problems in Milan
I have to ask you first, if there were no injuries, would Van Basten become the best striker in history? In fact, you already think so. Marco, in addition to the data, can also strike from left to right. He is 1.88 meters tall, fast, fierce and beautiful. At the age of 28, Marco has become one of the top five attackers in history.
As for what Ronaldo has, to be honest, few people have, or at least players with such physical quality and speed do not have Ronaldo's skills. He can accomplish something at a speed unmatched by others, so he perfectly combines control, physical quality, speed and strength with the technology in those three to four years.
To return to your own topic, your knee encountered some problems when you were 30 years old
The ligaments of my two knees have always been a bit wrong. They just like my two children, they emerged in a summer. This is a typical problem that will always accompany you. And from 1982 to 1983, there were almost no facilities that could improve the body shape... I really started training in the gym from 1998 to 1999, I was 30 years old at that time, and I had never touched the gym before.
Until the 2000s, we almost never used the gym. All we do is climb, go downhill, run in the forest and jump. Of course, the later kinematics knowledge made us understand a lot: when I was 30 years old, I felt that I had run out of oil and the light was dry, and when I entered the gym, the energy in my body broke out again in an impressive way.
The years from 2002 to 2003 and 2003 to 2004 were my best years in terms of technology and body. I was 35 years old at that time. To be honest, I could compete with any player in terms of speed and stability at that time. When you know that a person will lose some physical strength at the age of 30, you must carry out other training: this is what happened at that time. It seems wrong not to have done these things before, but we didn't know it at that time.
My problem is that, as a professional player, I have played games for so many years. I have a strong explosive force, a good ability to stop quickly, and a very strong muscle structure. My characteristic is that like a sprinter, I restart after a sudden stop. Obviously, the joints were not very good. Later, my left and right knees were operated on in two years. At that time, I was still doing minimally invasive surgery. If I could use new technologies, such as reserving some space between bones and injecting something for relief, I would certainly have fewer problems after retirement.
What changes have taken place in the sports medical team before the Berlusconi era, during the Berlusconi era and when you were your own director?
When I first came to Milan, there were two masseurs and a doctor in the team. We had almost 15 reusable bandages that could be used for those with ankle problems. My ankle has a lot of problems, because my foot turns inward and often sprains, but this is a common problem, so I got the worst bandage.
Then, during Berlusconi's time, various very convenient disposable products began to appear. He also brought more masseurs, more doctors, and other professionals, such as psychologists or psychological coaches: a team of about 15 people. At present, the team in the medical field is composed of about 30 to 35 people: seven to eight physical therapists, some external consultants, two to three doctors on call - I don't mean it's an exaggeration. The health of players has received great attention.
Almost every player has a personal therapist or doctor, but there must be rules. Everyone must have team spirit. You can't do something for yourself without informing the head of the medical area. Especially in the aspect of injury recovery: if there is work to be done, it can be done outside the medical institution, but it must follow the instructions of the surgeon who operates for you or the doctor who treats you.
What are the differences in the way Sacchi, Capello and Ancelotti manage their workload?
If Sacchi is the worst, then Capello and Ancelotti are very similar. You always have to consider different seasons, that is, when you kick the Champions League to the end, you almost have no time to rest, so the change may be the management of free time. I think it has become a very basic thing to attach importance to rest, especially in the era of Carlo Ancelotti. In my opinion, the secret is to demand a lot, but after that, we should also give everyone a lot of freedom: take a few days off and give everyone a chance to recover.
They always ask me what I did during the holidays, because between one season and another, they will arrange some plans for you. I think football is the only sport that will last for 11 months, sometimes even 11 and a half months. But to be honest, I have never done anything because my body needs rest. The only season I did something was in 1996, when my eldest son was born, and I participated in the European Cup in England, so I had a 15 day rest, and then on the first day of training camp I could not hold on. My biggest advantage is that I can reset everything, think about holidays, not think about the past season, or even the upcoming season, so that the body and spirit can be restored to a certain extent.
How do you arrange your holidays?
First of all, there are a few seasons where I only have 5, 7, 8 or 9 days of vacation. In fact, I almost have no vacation. In fact, later we all know that all those who have less than 20 days of vacation after the end of a season will be injured one month to one and a half months later, which is a typical example.
And then, unlike the NBA -- with all due respect, NBA games are always played indoors, and the atmosphere of the regular season is very calm. The first three quarters are almost spent in idleness, and then they want to win. Of course, the playoffs are another matter - we had five days of training, and then flew to the United States to play against Real Madrid or Manchester United. Facing 80000 spectators, the temperature reached 40 degrees, The impact of outdoor games in winter or summer is very crazy. There are many differences among them. The problem is that football is increasingly moving towards the season with intensive competition schedule, but it always needs maximum viewing, which is actually impossible.
Is the pace of the game faster than it was in your time?
In fact, our rhythm was very fast at that time. Although there was less physical training, the game was more direct. Now they are more in control of the ball, and have lower requirements on the body. In terms of physical condition, I played with many people who would now be 100% the world's top players in the 1980s: three Dutchmen, Baresi, and many others who played with me.
Is the rhythm different now? At that time, the competition was more direct, more difficult, and the distance was longer, which was very tiring. From the physical point of view, the athletes of those years will be different today. Of course, today's players are much less skilled.
In the past, you had to master a lot of skills to reach a certain level, but now you only need to become a high-level player, especially on the wing, especially in a team with five guards, so the winger needs to run. They usually have common basic skills, but their running can bring different effects.
In your opinion, how important is managing stress?
Without the help of my family, I would have to face it alone. When I became a director, I had 25 years of work experience. I remember my feelings in many difficult times. I tried to make full use of these experiences to support those very young children, only 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 years old. I still don't have a real framework to deal with some of the burdens of this profession. You can always see beautiful things, but you can't see the angle of pressure. In my opinion, there is still much work to be done in this area, and this is still an undeveloped field, because many foreign investors do not understand this problem, or even want to face such problems, because they do not even have the tools to do so.
We are very aware of the importance of supporting players, even on a moral level, before, after and during training. It is also important to understand how they train so that we can understand who we are communicating with. I often say that these are invisible things, but they determine the fate of the club. These intangible things are difficult to explain to the new boss with Excel tables, and these things are not accessible or controlled by the boss. It seems that you have a magic formula, but in fact, it is not. If you have it, it is what makes you successful. Success means not only winning, but also doing your best.
What is it like to be part of the "Maldini Dynasty"?
Perhaps the most annoying thing is that, especially when I was a child, I really heard what they said when I went to play football in various stadiums in the suburb of Milan, which makes you very upset: I already have a lot of pressure, which should not exist. Then, it always depends on your personality. You can either respond positively or give up. To be honest, it depends on you to a large extent. Of course, this will affect your character, because it may make you more cautious, because you always have to pay attention to what others say... Then as time goes by, the matter will pass.
When I joined the U21 national youth team, my father was there, but people would not say that Vicini (former Italian U21 coach Azelio Vecchini) has called me into the U21 national youth team. It's the same with the national team. When my father came to the national team, I was already the captain, and I have played in the national team for several years.
