Maldini snaps at Sheva
Saturday 9 September, 2006
Milan captain Paolo Maldini has criticised Andriy Shevchenko for the way he handled his transfer to Chelsea.
“I hear that he didn’t handle the situation very well. A love affair can end, but you have to be clear about it, which would’ve avoided what happened,” noted the defender.
Shevchenko demanded a £30m move to Stamford Bridge, claiming he wanted to learn English so he could better communicate with his American wife and son, but it was an excuse that rang hollow with many fans.
“Nobody could’ve accused him of being a traitor if he’d been a bit more honest. In any case, we’ll always be grateful for what Sheva gave us.”
That wasn’t the only unhappy moment for the Rossoneri, who were ordered to start the 2006-07 campaign with an eight-point penalty and had to go through the preliminary round to reach the Champions League.
What infuriated Maldini even more was UEFA’s statement explaining they “will observe with the utmost attention the future attitude of Milan around competition fixtures. UEFA will not hesitate to intervene severely, should Milan be involved in any activities aiming to arrange improperly the outcome of a match.”
“After a horrible summer for Milan, I even had to listen to UEFA telling us to ‘behave ourselves,” snapped the legend. “No, that letter really was out of order. It was a bitter time, because the credibility of football in general was put into doubt and especially of Milan. As captain, I felt robbed of the last two years.”
The Rossoneri had the least heavy penalty of all the Calciopoli clubs, although only Juventus were demoted.
“It’s right to punish those who have made mistakes, but in my view they tried to involve more people and clubs because that made it easier to justify certain sentences. Juventus are our biggest rivals, but they’ve done incredible things and as a player I prefer to face great teams. They must pay for those errors, but I hope they return to Serie A soon.”
Maldini is set to pull on the captain’s armband in the debut match against Lazio on Sunday afternoon, ending a four-month injury nightmare.
“Professor Martens is one of the most advanced surgeons and the best in the world when it comes to knees. He only managed to partially reconstruct the cartilage, but after the operation the pain and swelling I suffered last season have disappeared. I feel great and am back in shape, so all that’s on my mind is playing football.”
i love it when maldini blasts people, its so amusing to hear lol, PLatini, Blatter (fifa/uefa), Sheva now who else? he shows whos the boss around here