Maldini - A Father & Son tale

Thanks guys.

October/November 2025

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A much improved couple of months have seen us climb back into our rightful place in Serie A, battling for title. However things havn't gone so well in the Champions League as we have dropped out of the qualification places with just a game to go.

Beating Inter will be the highlight for our fans of course, but stuffing Roma 5-0 was also well received by the Rossonari faithful. An epic 4-4 draw with Udinese gave those in attendence a real treat as we came from behind on four occasions to earn a deserved point against what looks to be our biggest threat to the title.
Our unbeaten record continues, only Napoli have beaten us at the San Siro in the league since defeat to Juventus in April 2023. Our fortress seems to be holding strong.

Udinese are the second team in Italy nowadays as Juventus, Napoli and Lazio have fallen from grace. Inter remain a threat but Udinese are consistently producing the highest class of youngster who are fueling their push for honours, Walter Mazzari's side are the only side who have stopped us from having eight titles in a row after their 2021 triumph.

Three of my players in team of the month, It's also good to see several of my Italy stars in there, Carbone and Ciarrocchi can be reasonably sure of a place in my squad for the World cup and Cenzato and Nardini have done there chances of selection no harm after having recently made their international debuts.

Unfortunately the future doesn't look quite as promising in Europe with our hopes of advancing relying on Bayern, although I don't see Feyenoord beating the German giants, having said that I didn't see Carpi beating Roma on the final day last season to hand us the title, so what do I know?

Italy

Our place in Mexico is already assured, so these four games were merely a chance to test one or two fringe players ahead of the tournament.

Perhaps some may have expected a higher scoreline against Moldova, however I saw no need to force the issue here as my team did a professional job in earning a simple three points. Some were surprised that I had selected Carpi striker Nicolo Nuti for this one, the striker had scored 8 from 8 for the Serie B side so I gave him a shot. Anyone who is playing well for his club side will be in contention for my squad. Unfortunatly Nuti looked out of his depth, but at least I gave him a chance.

Inter winger Christian Forni made his Azzuri debut in this one and performed well alongside several players who I have recalled from the cold. things threatened to go south when the Georgians took the lead, however we calmy went about our accurate passing game which was rewarded when one of those recalled me, Federico Vannucchi, scored what proved to be the winner.

Played eight, won eight. I couldn't ask any more than that. In fact we qualified with such ease we could have advanced twice over.
After the qualification campaign was over we headed to North America to play a couple of friendly games on the continent ahead of Mexico 2026;

I took a chance on selecting Paolo Vannini for Italy, he's been in good form for my Milan side and with not much to choose from in opposition to Christian at right back I gave him a chance which he seized by getting a 7.2 rating, not bad for an 18 year old debutante. Also making their bows were Manchester City playmaker Giusseppi Antonacci, Udinese defender Saverio Madrigali and Napoli forward Guiseppe Chianese all of whom played well in this walkover.

A much tougher game, however we were still able to leave California with the win thanks to my Milan winger Nicolo Di Marchi. Just one new boy in this fixture as Fiorentina's recently nationalised Brunao decided to give up on his ambitions of playing for his native Brazil in order to make his International debut with us.

Christian

Recently passed his 300 league game landmark, I look back at his career with a lot of pride;

He has achieved a lot in his 29 years, winning four Serie A titles, featuring in ten cup finals, six of which he has won. as well as representing his country at the 2020 Olympics at U23 level and in Euro 2024 as a senior, collecting 37 caps and scoring once so far for the Azzuri. How I would dearly love him to collect the World cup this summer. The only major trophy I never won as a player.

Much better month that mate! Hopefully that form continues, great work with Italy winning all eight and nice to see Christian knock up 300 apps now!

The draw for the tournement has just been made;



Not a bad draw for us really, we should be able to beat any of those three teams, although if we get through we will likely have Argentina or France to contend with in the second round which is much less easy. Group G looks the most interesting from a neutral point of view.
In preparation for the tournament I have arranged friendlies with Colombia, Bulgaria and Japan.

I've made a shortlist of about sixty players, they are the ones who I will halve to form my preliminary 30 man squad which will then become my final 23 after they have had the aforementioned friendlies to state their cases for a seat on the plane to Mexico. Good luck to them all.

Hope Bayern do you a massive favour

Congrats on the good news

Thanks Dan.


Thankfully they did just that!

Thanks mate.

December 2025 & January 26'

On the whole our form has been ok as we entered the second half of the season, however slip up's against smaller opponants keep happening, big wins over the likes of Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina were offset by losses to Chievo and Empoli, I'm going to have to re-think our awayday stratagy because anymore slip ups like that could see title 26 drift from our reach.

As it is though, we still have a good chance of retaining our crown, we have a game in hand and none of the other teams in the title race have exactly blown all comers away so far;

We've also progressed in the other two competitions as Bayern indeed did us the favor we required by beating Feyenoord for us as we held up our end of the bargain in beating FC Cophenhagen;

We are going to need to sharpen up if we are to stand a chance of reaching the quarterfinals for the third year running;

We've also booked our place in the last four of the Copa Italia;

It could well be another Milan derby in the final if we beat Roma, the first leg will be my 250th game as manager of the Rossonari. It's been a wild ride that hopefully still has a long way to go yet!

I made one signing during the January window;

I recently gave the Manchester City striker his Italian debut, so when the English club made him available for just £750k I couldn't resist snapping him up, he has a four and a half star potential rating according to my assistant Alessandro Del Piero so he could turn out to be an absolute steal.

Italy

Not much to report at this time, I've been keeping my eye on the other Serie A teams to see if there is anyone else I would consider for my World cup squad, however I think I have a general idea of at least my initial 30 man squad now, obviously injuries and losses of form could change that between now and June.

Christian

Is coming under increasing pressure from Paolo Vannini for the starting rightback place, Vannini seems to be improving every week, especially since he got his first Italy cap in November. The two have roughly started the same amount of games recently. I have been experimenting with three at the back, Vannini is comfortable at centre back whereas Christian looks uncomfortable there.

Good work qualifying from your group but another tough draw!

Too tough as it turned out...

February & March 2026'

The mighty Milan are back on top of the Serie A pile as the season draws to a close, we have a six point lead over Udinese with as many games to go as well as ensuring we once again will play in the Copa Italia final as we overcame Roma, putting together a record win streak in the process. However it wasn't all smiles as we allowed a first leg advantage over Manchester City blow up in our faces in the second leg as we crashed out of Europe in the second round.

Beating Udinese was a huge result which saw us climb above Walter Mazzarri's team, winger Nicolo Di Marchi scored the only goal in that game.
My new signing Guisseppi Antonacci has made a superb start to his career here at the San Siro, scoring four and assisting eight goals in sixteen games. As I predicted he was a real steal for just £750k. Unfortunatly he wasn't able to play against his former club Man City as he wasn't registered for the Champions League, we could have done with an outlet for all the pressure in the second leg.

In addition to that record breaking win streak, there was also an attendance high as our largest crowd ever witnessed us defeat hated rivals Inter 2-0 despite Endrit Kruja's sending off leaving us with a numerical disadvantage for most of the second half.

We will meet Inter again in a few weeks time to contest the Copa Italia final. you may recall we met previously in the 2022 final with our nuisance neighbors emerging victorious in that encounter after a dramatic penalty shoot-out. I would dearly like to ensure it is us celebrating this time.

In other news; we have inducted our latest quota of youngsters to the under-18's;

No prizes for guessing which three I'm most excited about.

Mauriano in particular looks as if he will be a wonderful player, In fact looking at those mental attributes I don't think I would have much reservation in putting him in the first team should the need arise through injury or suspension. Certainly he is one to keep an eye on.

Italy

Of course my focus at the moment is on the World cup this summer, however we did find out our group for the Euro 2028 qualifiers;

This group isn't as straightforward looking as our World cup qualifying campaign where we earned enough points to advance twice over, Denmark and Greece are sure to put up a good fight. I'm still confident of getting through to the tournament which will be held in England however.

Although I may not be Italian coach for this campaign, it very much depends on our performance in Mexico this summer. The minimum expectation is for us to reach the semi-final. Currently we're ranked fifth in the world so it's definitely an achievable goal. How I would dearly love to win the World cup after the heartbreaking defeat in the final of Euro 2024.

Christian

My regular changes to 3-5-2 have seen Christian starting more and more games on the bench, even in games where I do require fullbacks Vannini has developed into my first choice with a string of impressive performances, he offers something that Christian doesn't going forward. Having said that Chris has been covering the suspended Endrit Kruja at left back where he has done reasonably well, perhaps the two of them could play together rather than being rivals.

Great home win against City, shame about the defeat in the away leg! League and cup titles aren't far off now!

April & May 2026'

Champions again! Unlike last year there was no last day drama as we ended up running away with it;

Despite a few shock defeats to teams we should have beaten and the devastating Champions League exit, it has overall been a good season, we went unbeaten at home in all competitions (In fact we dropped only four points at the San Siro all season) and haven't lost on our own patch since February last year when Napoli won 1-0.
Udinese, who were top for most of the season really fell away in the business end of the season. This season's surprise package was fourth place Cagliari who defied pre-season relegation predictions to qualify for the Champions League. It was also shocking to see both Napoli and Lazio relegated to Serie B, two big rivals going down...shame.

A nice confident finish to the season with plenty of goals, capped with an extra time win over Inter to retain the Copa Italia;

So thats a second consecutive domestic treble for us, my ambitions of overtaking Juventus as the all time most successful club in Italy have moved a step closer as we move up to 26 Serie A's to Juve's 33. That of course means we have at least eight years to go before we get one up on the old lady, with that in mind I have signed a new deal.

Two more trophies have moved me up to second in the all time Italian hall of fame, again chasing a Juventus man;

Antonio (now Real Madrid manager) had an amazing thirteen years in charge of Juve and I have the utmost respect for him and his achivements. however I fully intend to surpass him!

We have two players in team of the season;

Both Ricardo and Tiziano have been brilliant throughout, I was surprised that Nicolo Di Marchi and Stephane Fournier missed out on selection though;

It is great to see that seven players that are in my initial World cup squad are in this selection.

Club legend Nicusor Staniciu has decided he wishes to leave this summer in order to find a new challenge in his career, he has been with the club for ten years, scoring 65 goals in 276 games, winning the league eight times in that period and winning Serie A player of the year on three occasions. It will be sad to see such an influential player go, however at 33 he has been declining for the last couple of seasons and it is probably the right time. Goalkeeper Marco Sampaio is also off to the Bundesliga to join Freiburg after getting upset with his limited opportunities.

Italy

My initial thirty man squad for Mexico 2026 (Caps/Goals)

Goalkeepers
Andrea Brignoli - Saint-Etienne (2/0)
Nicolo Leali - Fiorentina (40/0)
Luca Savelloni - Sampdoria (0/0)

Defenders
Christian Maldini - Milan (37/1)
Franco Campana - Arsenal (22/1)
Daniele Nardini - Roma (0/0)
Paolo Vannini - Milan (2/0)
Brunao - Fiorentina (1/0)
Alessio Romagnoli - Inter (52/6)
Stefano Centazo - Udinese (2/0)
Endrit Kruja - Milan (34/0)

Midfield
Ariel Aguirre - Dortmund (9/0)
Emilano Carbone - Udinese (14/0)
Marco Veratti - Real Madrid (123/19)
Bryan Cristante - Man City (59/8)
Tiziano Tulisi - Milan (48/4)
Pannaci Cannistra - Spartak Moscow (10/2)
Alessio Depprau - Milan (17/4)
Pasqual Di Giacomo - Atletico Madrid (3/3)

Wingers
Lorenzo Insigne - Liverpool (57/24)
Nicolo Di Marchi - Milan (37/15)
Alessandro Ciarrocchi - Roma (9/2)
Giovanni Mariottini - Milan (19/3)

Strikers
Andrea Petagna - Udinese (25/2)
Guiseppi Antonacci - Milan (2/0)
Domenico Martino - Cagliari (0/0)
Giuseppe Chianese - Napoli (1/0)
Edoardi Chiodi - Fiorentina (7/4)
Ciro Olivero - Milan (4/0)

That squad now needs whittling down to 23, it will likely be the uncapped players who miss out, with the exception of Domenico Martino who had a great season with Cagliari, scoring 22 goals in 29 games.

Christian

Had a reasonable season, getting an average rating of 6.95, although his place is no longer guaranteed with the emergence of Paolo Vannini, still it's nice to have two good Italian fullbacks. I'm not sure if Vannini will make the final cut for the World cup, he and Cenzato are pretty evenly matched so it's a close run thing for the second right back spot.

Congrats on winning the league again mate as well as the Italian Cup. It's a shame both Napoli and Lazio get relegated and maybe who should raid whatever talent(s) they have remaining. Good luck at the World Cup, would love to see you go the whole way in the tournament. KIU.

I took charge of the Italian national team four years ago on the back of a disappointing showing at the 2022 tournament in Qatar where the Azzuri, then under the guidence of Vicenzo Montella, only made it to the second round. Unacceptable for a team with the rich history and traditions that Italy have.
Since I was given the job in July of 2022 I think it's fair to say I have re-established Italy as a major force, reaching the final of Euro 2024 and qualifying with consummate ease for this competition with as many as 65 players making their International debuts under me as I've restructured to favour youth.
Now in beautiful sunny Mexico, on the eve of the championships, it's time to find out just how far I have brought my talented bunch of youngsters in the last four years;

My final squad;

GK - Nicola Leali
GK - Alberto Brignoli
GK - Luca Savelloni
RB - Christian Maldini
RB - Stefano Centazo
CB - Alessio Romagnoli
CB - Franco Campana
CB - Daniele Nardini
CB - Elio Capradossi
LB - Endrit Kruja
LB - Brunao
DM - Marco Veratti
DM - Ariel Aguirre
CM - Bryan Cristante
CM - Tiziano Tulissi
AM - Alessio Depprau
AM - Guissepi Antonacci
RW - Nicolo Di Marchi
RW - Lorenzo Insigne
LW - Giovanni Mariottini
LW - Alessandro Ciarrocchi
ST - Ciro Olivero
ST - Dominico Martino

We played four pre-tournament warm-up games;

Not an amazing set of results but they achieved their primary purpose of getting my players fit for the first group game;

A late comeback rescued us as substitute Olivero leveled up before Tulissi put us ahead with just minutes remaining to complete a Milan double salvo.

The same goal scorers as in the Russia game, this time however we were in full control throughout this encounter and booked our place in the last sixteen with a game to spare.

With us already qualified for the next round I used this final group game to rest some of my key players, Korea took advantage of a bit of complacency amongst our ranks and snatched a surprise win to top the group, leaving us in second with Argentina waiting


Argentina of course are no pushovers, as they proved in this encounter, ultimately though we won out in extra time with Nicolo Di Marchi netting both goals to edge out the South Americans who were hotly fancied to win this tournament.


We were very much at the business end of the World cup now and there was no margin for error, we got a favourable draw against Peru in the quater finals but knew we couldn't afford any complacency;

When we went 2-0 down I thought we would be catching the plane back to Rome tomorrow morning, however my lads rallied magnificently, Mariottini pulled one back quickly, however the real drama game in the final five minutes as Bolonga forward Martino levelled the score before Tulissi bent in a beautiful freekick with just two minutes left to complete a stunning turn around as we sent another South American outfit home.

With the team through to the semi-finals the tension was unbearable, Portugal awaited, a tough tie, however we were slight favourites for a narrow win, that didn't prove to be the case at all though...

We absoloutly destroyed them! from start to finish we were the better team and could have won by six or seven. I couldn't have asked for any more from my players in such a huge game, although now I had to ask them to go one better.

Thats right, the Azzuri had reached the World cup final for the first time since in twenty years, the biggest prize in all of football was sitting in front of us within touching distance, all we had to do was overcome one of the other football superpowers, Spain? Germany? Brazil?....erm, Not quite....

Yes, the Republic of Ireland beat off the Japan, Belgium and France to reach this point, certainly on paper we should have beaten them comfortably, but Japan, Belgium and France probably thought the same thing! Could we do it? could we win our fifth World cup, equalling Brazil as the most successful team ever in the competition?

Congrats Rick but it was never in doubt.

Fantastic trophy to add to your collection man!

I certainly doubted it at times, losing to South Korea, then going to extra time against Argentina, having to comeback from two down against Peru. Once we beat Portugal so comfortably though I was quietly confident going into the final, however having lost the Euro's final a couple of years back there was still nerves ahead of the game.

Thanks Dan, yeah, it looks nice on the mantel next to the wedding photo and carriage clock.

Still not decided if I should step down as Italy coach now though, what do you guys reckon?

Personally I'd remove the wedding photo.

It's up to you at the end of the day Rick but I'd stay on for another campaign and try and win the European Championships, if you get knocked out of them or shockingly don't qualify for Euro 2028 then I'd step down and take a break from international management for a while and concentrate on Milan.

See I'd just step down now, you've got the World Cup title now focus on catching Juventus!

After weighing up all my options I decided to step down as national team manager, It was a tough decision but after looking through the fixture list for the Euro 2028 qualifiers, I just couldn't bring myself to get excited about another two year campaign against the likes of Finland, Moldova and Andorra after the glorious World cup triumph last week.

I'd happily endorse Massimilano Allegri for my job, he's been a wily opponent whenever we have come up against his Inter side during his two spells with our old rivals. I just hope that he, or whoever takes the job will continue the work I have done with developing a young and exciting side, I think it would be a bitter pill to swallow if he recalls old has-beens at the expense of the youngsters I brought through.

As Dan quite rightly points out this now gives me time to fully concentrate on dethroning Juventus and select other records I'm aiming to break;

Most Serie A titles - Juventus -33 (Milan - 26)
Most consecutive Serie A titles - Juventus - 6 (Milan - 5)
Most Serie A games won in a row - Inter - 17 (Milan - 12)
Most Serie A points in a season - Inter - 97 (Milan - 92)
Most Copa Italia Wins - Juventus - 10 (Milan - 9)
Most Champions League wins - Real Madrid - 10 (Milan - 7)
Longest unbeaten run in top European league - Milan! - 58

That lot should keep me busy for another decade at least, after that I plan to retire and watch Christian's journey into management.

No surprise to see you thrash Republic of Ireland Stepping down is the right time imo

Wait, you listened to me! this can only end badly!

Great set of records your looking to break! Be nice to see when Christian goes into management you take over another side, maybe inter and then try and smash the records again....but thats another situtation!

August/September 2026

We're off to a reasonable start to the season, we lifted out fourth consecutive super cup, won both of our Champions League games thus far and got decent results in all bar-one of our Serie A games;

We were top until the defeat to Sampdoria, that is the sort of result we cannot afford if we are seriously going after the records I mentioned in the previous post.

We've done well in Europe so far, two wins from two, and both against the more challeneging teams our group.

The Champions League is the my one great ambition remaining now, I'm a five time Serie A winner and a World champion with Italy, I need the European cup to complete my collection!
Speaking of trophies;

It's always nice to get another medal, especially against your arch rivals. With many of my players having taken part at the World cup, I allowed them an extended leave of absence and picked what was mainly my 'B' team who did their job perfectly. Paolo Vannini got his first senior goal for the club and two academy products made their debuts from the bench, which is always good to see.

It was a quiet summer transfer-wise with the only departures being goalkeeper Marco Sampaio joining Freiburg on free transfer and club legend Nicusor Staniciu deciding to retire rather than leave for another club. The only arrival has been Sampaio's replacement;

Lefteris began his career at Olympiakos before being snapped up my Manchester City where he stayed for six years but only managed three first team appearances for City, spending most of his time out on loan. With Tim Krul turning 39 next April Lefteris will be looking to establish himself as a viable replacement for the Dutchman when he decides to hang up his gloves.

Christian

Has had a rough time so far this season, having fell behind Vannini in the pecking order here and seemingly not forming part of Massimilano Allegri's plans at International level after not making the side in the most recent selection.
Christian's only start came in the win over Atletico Madrid, aside from that young Vannini has kept him out of the team with a string of impressive performances. Vannini is much better at getting forward as well as a decent defender, whereas Christian only really offers the defensive aspect, is his time with th Rossonari up? It would break my heart to see him go but a World cup winner isn't likely to be content with the bench for too long.

I had to replay the game against Wolfsberg in the Champions League after my laptop crashed without me having saved prior. Only managed a draw this time after coming from behind twice. bit annoying but still.

We're still top of the group, but only by the one point instead of three.

Edit: Have to love visiting the Edin Dzeko arena!

Unlucky with the Wolfsburg replay but still not too bad coming from behind twice! But the Dzeko arena! really!?

Not as bad as the John Terry stadium which Chelsea now use. Probably has some extra special hospitality for WAG's.