Maldini responds to Scaroni comments: 'If I look at my past, I can’t stop smiling'

Former AC Milan defender and director Paolo Maldini has responded to recent comments from Rossoneri president Paolo Scaroni suggesting he views his past with bitterness.

Scaroni was speaking at an event earlier in the week when he was asked about Maldini, and Scaroni revealed that he has not heard from the former captain since he departed from the club.

The president then suggested that Maldini may have bitterness about the way his time at Milan ended, saying: “I have not heard from him. When somebody looks at the past with bitterness, it means that he’s not living the present too well. I hope this is not Maldini’s case, and I wish him a life full of satisfaction.”

Maldini has since responded to these comments through Corriere della Sera (via Alfredo Pedulla), succinctly explaining that he only views his past in a happy way.

“If I look at my past, I can’t stop smiling,” Maldini said.

Maldini and Frederic Massara both departed in the summer of 2023 in what proved to be a summer of much change for Milan. There were protracted contract negotiations and rumoured disagreements between the two directors on the sporting side, and the RedBird Capital Group ownership over how the transfer window should pan out.

With Sandro Tonali leaving for Newcastle around the same time, two major fan favourites had left Milan and the mood was low. Summer signings like Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have softened the losses over that summer and Maldini appears not to hold any grudges.