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Hear from AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini on his fight with the coronavirus via Sempre Milan:
“I am quite well. The worst is over. I still have a little dry cough. I have lost my taste and smell, we hope to return. It was like a slightly ugly influence. But it is not a normal flu.”
“Look, I know my body. An athlete knows himself. The pains are particularly severe. And then you feel like a squeeze in the chest. It’s a new virus. The physicist [physician] fights against an enemy he does not know.”
The Technical Director does not know where he contracted the coronavirus: “I don’t know. My wife had a very long, very strange flu, she was three weeks in bed. Before that, in mid-February, our eldest son, Christian, who is 23 years old and lives with us, had a bad flu, perhaps he was the worst in the family. I felt the first symptoms on Thursday March 5th.”
“[I had] Pain in joints and muscles. Fever: never more than 38 and a half. The next day, Friday, I should have gone to Milanello, and I stayed at home. I also missed Milan-Genoa. Medicine? Only with tachipirine. I didn’t take antivirals because I never had breathing difficulties.
“I treated myself through the social doctor. We at Milan are very attentive to health, we have many resources, we have an agreement with San Raffaele. But we have chosen to scrupulously abide by the rules set by our city, by our region.”
Maldini also spoke on his friend’s experience with the illness:
“I already knew I had the virus. I felt it wasn’t a flu like any other; and then I had the vaccine for the flu. Of course, a little worry comes to you.
“A friend of mine had respiratory problems and is hospitalised in Legnano, does not sleep, has nightmares. It went better for me. However, I have been confined here for eighteen days with my family.”
Regarding his son Daniel, Maldini said: “Yes. He too lives with us, he too has pain and fever. But he is so young. It seems to me that in the family he is the one who took it in a lighter form. My wife and Christian took the swab and are negative. But we are convinced that they too have taken the virus, and have already come out of it.”
Finally, Maldini says he is also confident for a resumption of the season: “There must be a finale to the season, and there will be. But we can’t say when now.
“I understand that it would be a precious leisure for people. But in football it is impossible not only to play, but also to train without contact. And then it is right to put all the teams on the same level. Some, like Sampdoria, are most affected. Some of the most representative players of Juve are positive.”
AC Milan and Italian Football Links
- Former Milan and Turkye manager Fatih Terim contracts the coronavirus. [AC Milan Offside]
- Serie A considering reforms to help clubs offset loss of revenues. [Football Italia]
- Juventus keeper Buffon expected to renew until 2021. [Football Italia]
- Atalanta confirm keeper Sportiello contracts the coronavirus. [Football Italia]
- Sampdoria President Ferrero says season should end where it is. [Football Italia]
World Football Links
- A Letter from Italy, ‘‘You must stop and go inside.’’ [The Guardian]
- Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola donates 1m to fight coronavirus. [BBC]
- Bayern Munich players opt to take wage cut. [Sky Sports]
- Japan and IOC agree to postpone Olympics to 2021. [CNN]
- Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho support effort in England by volunteering. [Super Sport]