Paolo Maldini: The defender so good, he didn’t need to make a tackle
“IF I have to make a tackle then I have already made a mistake.”
That is the sentiment of AC Milan and Italy legend Paolo Maldini.
At first glance, it seems like an odd thing to say as one of the greatest defenders in footballing history.
When you think of defending, your mind tends to think of getting stuck into a good, old-fashioned tackle.
But, the one-club man, 50 today — who spent his entire career at AC Milan — averaged only 0.56 challenges per game during his career.
It’s staggering to think that Maldini achieved what he did, without ever really needing to lunge in.
It speaks volumes for a man whose positioning and ability to read the game was second to none.
So let’s go back to that line: “If I have to make a tackle then I have already made a mistake.”
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It’s a sentiment echoed by Bayern Munich and former Liverpool and Real Madrid holding midfielder Xabi Alonso.
He said: “I don’t think tackling is a quality. It is something you have to resort to, not a characteristic of your game.
Paolo Maldini factfile
AC MILAN
- Club record 902 appearances for AC Milan
- Serie A record 647 league appearances
- Most Champions League final appearances with 8 (tied with Paco Gento)
- Five Champions League wins: 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007
- Seven Serie A titles: 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
- One Coppa Italia: 2003
- One Club World Cup: 2007
ITALY
- Third most caps with 126
- Beaten finalist at 1994 World Cup and Euro 2000
INDIVIDUAL
- European Championship team of the tournament: 1988, 1996, 2000
- World Cup team of the tournament: 1990, 1994, 2002
- Ballon d'Or third place: 1994, 2003
- Champions League final man of the match: 2003
- Uefa Team of the Year: 2003, 2005
- Serie A defender of the year: 2004
“I can’t get into my head that football development would educate tackling as a quality, something to learn, to teach, a characteristic of your play.
“How can that be a way of seeing the game? I just don’t understand football in those terms.
“Tackling is a [last] resort, and you will need it, but it isn’t a quality to aspire to, a definition.
“It’s hard to change because it’s so rooted in the English football culture, but I don’t understand it.”
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Well, Alonso’s way of thinking is definitely the way Maldini looked at the game.
The left-footed Italian went about playing the beautiful game as if it were a chess match — eyeing up his opponents and plotting their moves well before they happened.
His ability to be in the right place, at the right time is something lacking in the modern game.
For instance, the top defenders in the Premier League this season are averaging between four and five tackles per game — hardly massive numbers, but it’s nearly TEN times more than Maldini ever needed.
And look what he achieved in the game...
902 appearances for AC Milan, 126 international caps for Italy, five Champions League trophies, seven Serie A titles, five Super Cups, five Supercoppa Italiana and more personal gongs than you could shake a stick at.
I could go on, but we would be here all day; his record as a footballer is almost unsurpassable — particularly by a fellow defender.
Ultimately, the best way to sum up Maldini could be the world ‘elegant’.
To read the game like he did, to break up the play like he did and start an attack with his ability to pass the ball without ever needing to tackle like he did?
It’s something we may never see on a football pitch again.