Since last night, three Maldinis have officially worn the national team shirt. The first in chronological order was Cesare who made his debut on 6 January 1960 and made a total of 14 appearances. Subsequently it was Paolo Maldini’s turn. In his case, his debut came on 31 March 1988: in total the Milan legend has collected 126 matches, the last on 18 June 2022. It is the third all-time in the blue jersey behind Buffon and Cannavaro. Finally, yesterday Daniel Maldini came on in the final minutes of the match against Israel in place of Giacomo Raspadori.
Coach Luciano Spalletti expressed his opinion on Daniel Maldini’s debut in a press conference at the end of Italy-Israel 4-1: “Maldini only played a few minutes but he showed that he knows how to do everything. He played a ball inside with very high quality, even when he moved it and shot on goal he did something in zero seconds with great strength. Then he has this ease dribbler: he’s physical, he’s got speed, when he puts his face in front of you you can’t catch him again.”
CLICK HERE for Luciano Spalletti’s full press conference at the end of Italy-Israel 4-1
Daniel Maldini’s report cards
TMW – 6
Gazzetta dello Sport – 6.5
Corriere dello Sport – 6
TuttoSport – 6
Corriere della Sera – sv
The Republic – 6.5