A few months before the European Championship, Paolo Maldini made his debut for the senior national team and began to write his name in the history books with a story that will forever be lauded. The stage for this great debut was Split, where the Azzurri faced Yugoslavia in a friendly on 31 March 1988.

A young man with great aspirations, the son of Rossoneri legend and U21 coach Cesare Maldini, Paolo was already a stalwart in Arrigo Sacchi’s AC Milan side at the age of 19, a team that was preparing to dominant world football.

Called up to the national team by Coach Azeglio Vicini, he came onto the pitch in the 55th minute as he replaced Francini during a match that finished level thanks to headers by Vialli for Italy then Jakovljevic for Yugoslavia.

That trial run for the promising full-back was enough to win over Azeglio Vicini, who was shaking things up in the Azzurri squad after the disappointing 1986 World Cup campaign. Maldini immediately became a regular in the squad and was part of the side that reached the European Championship semi-final that year in West Germany. That competition not only saw Gullit and Van Basten’s Holland triumph over the Soviet Union, who had beaten the Azzurri in the semi-final, but also Maldini starting in all four matches.

That tournament was followed by four World Cups and two more European Championships in which he was a key player for Italy, captaining the side from 1996 to 2002. Among those competitions, there were two near misses: the 1994 World Cup in America when the Azzurri only missed out on the cup due to penalties in the final, and the 2000 Euros where Trezeguet’s golden goal overcame the Azzurri in the final. Overall, Paolo made 126 Azzurri appearances, the third most ever, in which he scored seven goals.

ITALY’S LINE-UP ON MALDINI’S DEBUT

Zenga - Bergomi, Francini (Maldini 55), Baresi, Ferri - De Agostini (Fusi 74), Donadoni, De Napoli - Mancini, Vialli, Giannini