The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Milan and Italy great Cesare Maldini
Former Italy coach and AC Milan defender Cesare Maldini has died aged 84, the Serie A club have announced on their website.
In a statement the club expressed condolences to Maldini's family. Paolo, Maldini's son, played more than 600 times for Milan and over 100 games for Italy.
The statement read: “All of Milan, all the people and the Milan figures express condolences to Mrs Maldini, their children and grandchildren.”
A tweet posted on the club’s official account read: “Goodbye dear Cesare. Today the world loses a great man and we lose a page of our history. You will be missed.”
Maldini won the European Cup in 1963 – the first Italian to do so – and four Serie A titles with Milan and played more than 400 games during a club career which ended with Torino.
He worked as assistant manager and then manager for Milan before moving to the Italian national team where he was assistant manager from 1980 to 1986 before winning three European Championships during his spell in charge of the under-21 team.
Maldini, who played 25 times for Italy, took over as manager of the national team in 1996 following the departure of Arrigo Sacchi.
He led Italy to the 1998 World Cup finals in France, where they reached the quarter-finals, and also guided Paraguay to the 2002 finals in Japan and South Korea.
The Italian Football Federation announced on its website at the weekend that a minute’s silence would be observed at all matches across the country yesterday and today to mark Maldini’s passing.