Italy – C. Maldini: “Aimé Jacquet is a great coach”

Cesare MALDINI, coach for the ITALY team congratulated his colleague of the FRANCE team, this morning 4 July in Senlis (north of PARIS): “Aimé JACQUET is a great coach. He mixes great human qualities with excellent footballing skills. He’s a man who commands much respect”. The friendship between the two men expressed itself through a fraternal embrace in the corridor of the changing rooms after the FRANCE-ITALY match on 3 July at the Stade de FRANCE (SAINT-DENIS).

He also commented on his choice among the young Italian players: “I think I made a good choice. We had several newcomers to the World Cup like Christian VIERI (21), Alessandro DEL PIERO (10) and Fabio CANNAVARO (4). In any case, there are few young Italian players because the clubs in our league take on many French beginners, between 15 and 19 years old. This prevents our players from having a chance. European regulations penalise the development of our football, but that’s the Italian federation’s problem.